Bill Gates, the co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, announced his separation from his partner, Melinda Gates, in a tweet on Monday.
The two met when Melinda joined Bill’s Microsoft company in the late 1980s. She had worked at the tech corporation as a marketing manager.
They have three children.
“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” the couple said in a joint statement. “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.
“We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.
“We as for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”
The financial specifics are still unknown. Bill Gates holds 1.37 percent of Microsoft’s stock, which is valued at more than $26 billion.
When the coronavirus became a global force last year, Bill Gates stood down from Microsoft’s board of directors. Along with Melinda Gates, he started to devote more resources to the nonprofit Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation, which was established in 2000, for which the two are co-chairs and trustees.
The news arrives two years after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that he and his wife, MacKenzie, were divorcing. Amazon and Microsoft compete in the cloud storage market, and Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are among the world’s wealthiest individuals.
Bezos settlement
According to Bloomberg, Amazon creator Jeff Bezos’ divorce from his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie Bezos, was finalized by a Seattle-area court, clearing the way for her to acquire $38.3 billion in Amazon stock.
The pair declared their intention to divorce in a joint Twitter statement, raising concerns that Jeff Bezos’ Amazon voting authority would be diminished or that he or MacKenzie would liquidate large positions.
According to Bloomberg, he still owns a 12 percent interest in the company worth $114.8 billion, making him the world’s wealthiest person. MacKenzie Bezos has stated that she will allow him to vote with her shares.
MacKenzie revealed in May that she will donate half of her wealth to charity as part of the “Giving Pledge,” a movement launched by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp MSFT.O, in 2010.
