Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce will involve complex decisions about how to manage their wealth after 27 years of marriage.
Here are details of their wealth and the couple’s philanthropic activities.
BILL GATES
According to Forbes, Bill Gates is the fourth richest person in the world with a net worth of $ 130.5 billion.
Gates left Harvard University to found the technology giant Microsoft in 1975 together with school friend Paul Allen. Gates owned 49% of Microsoft when he went public in 1986, making him an instant multimillionaire.
READ | Bill and Melinda Gates announce divorce after 27 years of marriage
With Microsoft’s explosive growth, he soon became the richest person in the world. He has since lost that title, in part due to donations for philanthropic causes. It has also been overtaken due to the growth of other companies. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com Inc., Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. and Louis Vuitton boss Bernard Arnault and his family occupy the top three spots on the Forbes asset list, with Gates in fourth place.
GATES FOUNDATION
The couple formed the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. It is one of the world’s largest non-profit organizations focusing on public health, education and climate change.
The grants included some $ 1.75 billion to spend on vaccine initiatives, diagnostics, and research during the coronavirus pandemic.
The foundation ended 2019 with net assets of $ 43.3 billion.
Billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates have decided to divorce after 27 years of marriage, the couple said in a joint announcement that rocked the philanthropic world https://t.co/o8QHtS1JJr pic.twitter.com/bETfsuYM7p
– Reuters (@Reuters) May 4, 2021
The foundation spent $ 5 billion on programs in the US and around the world in 2019, excluding administrative costs.
From 1994 to 2018, Bill and Melinda Gates gave the foundation more than $ 36 billion, according to the foundation’s website. Warren Buffett has donated more than $ 29 billion of his fortune to the Gates Foundation since 2006.
BREAKDOWN OF ASSETS
The couple, who have three children, have a custom mansion with an estimated value of 130 on Lake Washington, which lies between Seattle and its east suburbs, including Redmond, where Microsoft is headquartered, according to the King County Department of Assessments $ 8 million in 2020.
The financial details of their breakdown remain unclear. They seek a division of the common property under a separation agreement they have filed with the King County Superior Court.
As one of the few US states with community property laws, Washington believes that most property acquired in a marriage is shared between the spouses and shared equally in the event of a divorce.
The spouses can also agree that certain assets are independent property, that is, they belong to one of them. Inheritance often falls into this category.
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