Bill Gates’ company gives $1.8BILLION to wife Melinda day after bombshell divorce ending their 27-year marriage

Bill Gates gifted $1.8billion in stock to his soon-to-be ex wife Melinda a day after the couple decided to call it quits after 27 years of marriage.

The Microsoft co-founder who is listed as the fourth richest person in the world with an estimated $130billion in assets, posted the joint decision to divorce over his official Twitter account on Monday, citing the fact they “can no longer grow together as a couple.”


One of Gates’s holding companies, Cascade Investment, which has positions in various sectors like energy, hospitality and real estate, formed out of his Microsoft Corp. stock sales and dividends – transferred more than $1.8billion worth of securities to Melinda French Gates, according to Bloomberg Wealth.

That gives Melinda Gates command of Cascade’s 14.1 million shares of Canadian National Railway Co. worth about $1.5billion, Bloomberg reported, citing a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from May 3.

The billionaire also moved 2.94 million shares in AutoNation Inc. stocks, worth $309million.

On the day the couple announced the breakup, Gates expressed how a "great deal of thought and a lot of work" was invested to save their marriage, and after his wife admitted that marital life was "really hard."





Melinda’s estimated worth is about $70billion, according to Spear's.

Conversely, Melinda filed papers in court confirming that the marriage was “irretrievably broken.”

Gates praised their "three incredible children" who are all grown was delighted by their philanthropy efforts that have touched the lives of many around the world.

Jennifer, 25, her brother, Rory, is 22 and her sister, Phoebe, is 19.

Jennifer commented on the divorce in an Instagram story shortly after her parents went public.

"I’m still learning how to best support my own process and emotions as well as my family members at this time and am grateful for the space to do so," she wrote.

"I won't personally comment further on anything around the separation, but please know that your kind words and support mean the world to me."

The couple are going to continue helping the sick and disadvantaged, but will do so as exes.

"We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives," Gates wrote.

"We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life," he concluded.

Melinda tweeted an identical statement to her Twitter account.

Bill met Melinda not long after she became a Microsoft employee back in 1987 while attending a business dinner in New York City.


After a year of dating, it was reported that Bill had to make a pros and cons list about getting married.

“You know, we cared a lot for each other and there were only two possibilities: either, we were going to break up or we were going to get married,” Bill said in the Netflix three-episode series "Inside Bill's Brain".

“I took the idea of marriage very seriously,” Bill said.

The couple eventually tied the knot in Lanai, Hawaii, when Gates was 38 and Melinda was 29, reported the Associated Press.

 

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