NEED TO KNOW
- Bill Gates donated $7.88 billion to ex-wife Melinda French Gates’ philanthropy following her departure from their charitable foundation, PEOPLE can confirm
- The money was given as as part of an agreement following their divorce
- Melinda announced her departure from the Gates Foundation in May 2024, three years after she and Bill announced their split, and said she would focus on her own charity work
A bit of new information has emerged about how Bill Gates and ex-wife Melinda French Gates divided up their assets and charity work in the wake of their billion-dollar divorce.
In 2024, Bill gave nearly $8 billion to his ex-wife Melinda French Gates as part of a previously reported agreement following their split and her departure from their eponymous philanthropic foundation, PEOPLE can confirm.
The $7.88 billion donation was made by the Microsoft co-founder due to his settlement with his now-ex wife, according to The New York Times, which first reported the news, citing new tax records.
The donation, considered one of the largest charitable contributions ever made public, was made to Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, which was started by Melinda in 2022.
A spokesperson from Pivotal says the donation was agreed upon by Bill and Melinda when she left the Gates Foundation to focus on her own charities.
It’s considered part of $12.5 billion she was promised to help her work with women and families. It’s not clear when the remainder of that money was donated — presumably in 2025 or 2026 — though the Pivotal spokeswoman says, “The agreement has been fulfilled.”
Bill and Melinda announced their decision to divorce in May 2021 after nearly 30 years of marriage, during which they co-founded the Gates Foundation. They share two daughters and a son.
Three years after the divorce announcement, Melinda said she was resigning from the Gates Foundation.
“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” she said in a statement in May 2024. “I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together and of the extraordinary work it is doing to address inequities around the world.”
She continued then: “I care deeply about the foundation team, our partners around the world, and everyone who is touched by its work.”
Melinda went on to say that she would pursue her own philanthropic efforts with the aforementioned $12.5 billion grant.
“This is a critical moment for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world-and those fighting to protect and advance equality are in urgent need of support,” she said.
In her memoir, The Next Day, released in April, Melinda wrote that leaving the Gates Foundation was one of the formative moments of her life.
“I am simply not willing to accept the idea that my granddaughters could grow up with less freedom than I had,” she wrote. “And I knew that by leaving the foundation, I would have more time and resources to devote to this fight–as well as, for the first time in my philanthropic career, full control over how those resources were used.”
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Melinda told PEOPLE in a cover story in April that she felt it was “only responsible” to help others in need by using her “absurd” fortune.
“I believe the only responsible thing to do with these resources is to give it away — as thoughtfully and impactfully as possible,” she said. “One of my core values has always been to whom much is given, much is expected.”
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