The billionaire couple Bill Gates and Melinda Gates announced that they have decided to get a divorce. The pair posted their divorce announcement on Twitter. “Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” said the tweet.
Their eldest daughter, Jennifer Gates, took to Instagram and said that “it has been a challenging stretch of time for our whole family.”
Bill and Melinda Gates divorce is one of the most expensive divorces of all time. Bill Gates is the fourth wealthiest person in the world and most of their assets reside in private organizations and Cascade Investment. Gates also owns a small share of Microsoft.
This is how they will split their $146 billion fortune
They will “continue to share a belief in their mission and will work together at the foundation”, according to their tweet. They are going to continue to be the trustees and co-chairs, confirmed the spokesperson of Gates foundation
Details of their private assets are not made public. It is safe to assume that what remains of their fortune will probably be split as per their private settlement. Their divorce filing does not include a prenup, according to their divorce petition posted by TMZ. Washington follows a community property rule. It means that what a couple acquires during their marriage equally belongs to both of them unless they decide otherwise.
Similarity with Bezos divorce
The Gates’ split has several similarities to Bezos’ split from his ex-wife in 2019-in terms of length of the marriage, filing location, and money involved. However, their fortune was in Amazon stocks. About a quarter of Amazon’s shares that MacKenzie and her ex-husband owned together went to MacKenzie. She donated $6 billion out of the $36 billion worth to various charities.