Bill and Melinda met at Microsoft.
In 2021 Melinda and Bill divorced. Melinda Gates, the co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has written a new book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes The World. 
[49] She chaired a campaign for the hospital to fundraise $300 million to expand facilities, fund under-compensated and uncompensated care, and grow the hospital's research program to find cures and treatments.[50]. She first became interested in computers when a seventh-grade teacher placed her in an advanced math class. Gates' Ursuline computer teacher at Ursuline, Susan Bauer, "once described her as a well-rounded student who joined the drill team and helped other students learn programming," according to The Seattle Times. Elin Nordegren divorced golf legend Tiger Woods in 2010 for a reported $110million. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). It's inspiring to see this CEO is paving a better path for women and she calls on everyone to do its part to improve the world. [7], Melinda Ann French was born on August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas. Melinda, along with her husband, Bill founded the charitable organization Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 in Seattle with an aim improve public health, education, and climate change. The outlet notes that Bill is particularly popular in the country. She was ranked #3 in Forbes 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 lists of the 100 Most Powerful Women,[54] #4 in 2012 and 2016, #5 in 2020, and #6 in 2011, 2018, and 2019. That's things like doing the dishes, carpooling, doing the laundry.
I like to get up around 6:30 a.m., and I spend that first hour in 'quiet time.'" [29][30] The book highlights the failure to acknowledge women's unpaid work, drawing on feminist economist Dame Marilyn Waring's book If Women Counted. [56] In recognition of the foundation's philanthropic activities in India, Bill and Melinda jointly received India's third-highest civilian honor, Padma Bhushan, in 2015. [66], She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.[7]. [19] After graduation, she became a marketing manager with Microsoft, being responsible for the development of multimedia products. [4] As Melinda put it, the home Bill envisioned "was a bachelor's dream and a bride's nightmare." Bill and Melinda Gates have filed for divorce, and court documents show there is no prenup agreement. And what if you were married to billionaire Bill Gates? [3] French Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world's most powerful women by Forbes magazine. [1], In March 2022, Melinda said that she and Bill were "friendly" but "not friends". Melindashared the video on Instagram, captioning the post, "An unforgettable end to an unforgettable experience. Although Bill and Melinda Gates divorce might be the most expensive one ever recorded even potentially dropping Bill from the fourth richest man on earth to the 17th in a 50-50 split there have been plenty of expensive ones in the past. [33] The family resides in an earth-sheltered mansion overlooking Lake Washington in Medina, Washington. Melinda Gates' passion for issues involving women and children comes from a deeply personal place she's a mother of three herself and, as she told NPR, had to face a lot of the same challenges around a work-life balance experienced by women around the world. Memes of Bill and Melinda Gates' split have gone viral on social media - but that's not stopping some from resurfacing already meme'd content related to Bill Gates.
Had Melinda watched the recent TV show Made for Love, about a woman escaping an abusive marriage to a tech billionaire, and been inspired? This time around, people are making jokes regarding the couple's impending divorce. WebMelinda Gates is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. 2023 Before heading to the offices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and working with billions of dollars, she makes sure to enjoy some simple pleasures. I care about that more than I care about anything else And I always have to remember that, at the end of the day, my kids come first," she told Fortune in a spotlight on famous CEOs.
[58], In 2017, President Franois Hollande awarded France's highest national honour to French Gates and her husband for their charitable efforts, i.e. We still do races with puzzles for fun." ", As a teenager, Gates' father Ray brought home the Apple III computer, which only heightened her love of computers. Interestingly, Gates became the richest man in America the same year he married Melinda got to be some sort of satanic deal going on there. WHAT DID BILL GATES AND HIS EX DO ON THEIR NC TRIPS? [17] At Duke, French was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, Beta Rho Chapter. By 2014, Bill and Melinda had donated US$28 billion of their personal wealth to the Foundation. 
"As a working mom with three busy children, married to a working dad, I've learned that calendars are important," Melinda Gates told The Cut. "French has the capacity to become one of Seattle's great benefactors. Call me up closer to the day.'". Bill Gates looking atJeff Bezosafter the divorce from Melinda,readone tweetof the iconic meme of two identical Spidermen pointing at each other. Instagram. When Bill first asked Melinda out, she turned him down: She didnt like that he tried to schedule the date two weeks in advance. First, in 2016, the former president Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom the highest possible honor for civilians to the Gates for their charitable foundation. Read our Bill Gates live blog below for the very latest news and updates CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZING WITH NEWS OF BILL AND MELINDA GATES DIVORCE. The two did get married eventually, in a million-dollar secret Hawaiian ceremony in 1994. Opening up about her marriage to Bill, she talks about some of the challenges they faced in sharing the burden of parenting. That's not nearly spontaneous enough for me. For example, Bill asked Barack Obama to make a special message for Melinda's book launch. They Didnt Plan for Trump to Crash It. Perhaps the most famous example was the split between the world's richest man Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie Scott, in which Scott received $35.6billion in Amazon stock.
Before they decided to tie the knot, Melinda found a marriage pros and cons list Bill had made on a whiteboard, she remembered, laughing, in a recent documentary. Recollecting how Bill made a list of the pros and cons of marrying her, Melinda said in an interview. Instead, it compelled other organizations, firms, and even countries to help underwrite programs. But no one could have guessed the eventual power and reach of the foundation. During the business trip, "she went to a group dinner and sat next to the CEO."
Her foundation also launched a Gates Millennium Scholars program through which it became easier for students to fund their studies.
She was appointed in 1987 as marketing manager and later became General Manager of Information Products. We have to change it. The couple shares three children: Jennifer, 25, their son Rory, 21, and daughter Phoebe, now 18. They have three children: daughters Jennifer and Phoebe Gates and son Rory Gates. Melinda shared in her 2019 book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, that her husband said, "What do you mean, youre not going back? when she told him of her decision. It may come as a complete surprise that the wife of the cofounder of Microsoft and a former Microsoft employee herself didn't use the company's MS-DOS software as a kid. The foundation was established in 2015. WebMelinda Gates, ne Melinda Ann French, (born August 15, 1964, Dallas, Texas, U.S.), American businesswoman and philanthropist whowith her then husband, Microsoft Corporation cofounder Bill Gates founded the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This means a mixture of "meditation, some stretching, yoga, and I always do some kind of spiritual reading." Bill and Melinda seemed like Al and Tipper Gore, or Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, or any other couple who seemed so ingrained in the culture that you might not even actually remember them splitting up. Caption: Melinda Gates and Bill Gates (Source: Pledge) Then she served as a trustee for Duke University from BILL and Melinda Gates have called it quits after a 27-year marriage, the couple announced on Monday on Twitter. The Sun has seen their court documents, which makes clear they have no prenup. "I didn't have any business relationship or friendship with him," Gates told The Journal. People poked fun at the tech giant's founder's PC issues: Are bill and melinda gates really going through a you know *windows 98 shutdown sound* divorce?tweetedanother. Outside of billionaires, the Gates have a few other high-profile people to call in favors. What would life be like for the woman who just married the world's most influential bachelor? [3] French Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world's most powerful women by Forbes magazine.[4]. Maybe this was destiny to receive the award in Paris, given that Melinda's maiden name is "French.". That's barely a drop in the bucket.
But Gates also addresses gender equality in the United States using her own story as an example. WebCo-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she is not only a tech-savvy businesswoman, but she is also an advocate for womens equality. You bet. [4] She became the third-richest woman in the world at the time, and now is to the richest as her net worth rocketed to $62billion by late 2020 thanks to Amazons value exploding during the pandemic. When their first child was born, in 1996, she left the company to concentrate on her family and on the couples charitable work. There's a cute story in your book that speaks to that. After pursuing an MBA, Melinda joined Microsoft Corporation as a product manager in 1987. Updates?
(Not clear yet.) By the time Melinda French Gates decided to end her 27-year marriage, her husband was known globally as a software pioneer, a billionaire and a leading philanthropist. She told The Sun exclusively: "Right now they filed a separation agreement that doesn't necessarily mean there wasn't a prenuptial agreement. All thanks to the Apple II and Apple III computers her father purchased for the family. Just a couple years ago, Bill tweeted a photo of the couple on the occasion of their 25th anniversary, with a note: I cant wait to spend 25 more years laughing together., Happy anniversary, @melindagates. Melinda's heavy involvement with the philanthropic organization landed her the number six spot on Forbes' annual list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.". 
[28], In 2019, French Gates debuted as an author with the book The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. Melinda Gates in her teens with her mother and grandmother, Melinda and Bill Gates in Cambodia during malaria screening and treatment program, Melinda Gates during her visit to a Self Help Group in India, Melinda Gates during the Annual Employee Meeting of her foundation, Melinda Gates playing soccer in her high school days, Melinda Gates dancing with her father-in-law at her wedding to Bill gates, 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., Methodical it seems even in matters of the heart writing a list on a whiteboard with the pros and the cons of getting married., Melinda and Bill Gates during their trip to Africa, Melinda and Bill Gates at TED conference in Vancouver, Melinda Gates at World Health Assembly in Geneva, Melinda Gates with Indian PM Narendra Modi, After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Charles Munger is a billionaire American businessman, investor, and real estate attorney. A 'TIME' LINE: BILL AND MELINDA BECOME TIME PERSONS OF THE YEAR, In December 2005, Time Magazine named Bill and Melinda Gates as the Persons of the Year along with U2 singer Bono, calling all three of the "The Good Samaritans.". [20] These included Cinemania, Encarta, Publisher, Microsoft Bob, Money, Works (Macintosh) and Word. [5] She and her ex-husband have been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honour. Melinda Gates said her marriage to Bill Gates is "irretrievably broken," according to court documents about their separation and divorce. And how were we going to split up those roles?". In May 2006 the Gateses were awarded Spains Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation. Interestingly, Gates became the richest man in America the same year he married Melinda got to be some sort of satanic deal going on there. Melinda Gates, ne Melinda Ann French, (born August 15, 1964, Dallas, Texas, U.S.), American businesswoman and philanthropist whowith her then husband, Microsoft Corporation cofounder Bill Gatesfounded the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "We ask the court to dissolve our marriage and find that our marital community ended on the date stated in our separation contract," her petition for divorce read. I don't know.
Every meeting where I was with him were meetings with men. She shared the revelation in her 2019 book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. The couple married in 1994 and have three children together. He never donated any money to anything that I know about. And besides, Bill was not her first boyfriend with a boldface name: At Duke, Melinda dated chewing gum heir William Wrigley Jr., the Seattle Times once reported. Bill and I are on record saying we believe high-income people should pay more than a middle-income family [who would] then pay more than a low-income family. 
[8][32] In 1994, she married Gates in a private ceremony held in Lanai, Hawaii. Their collaborative approach evoked an African proverb cited by Melinda and others at the Gates Foundation: If you want to go fast, go alone. Also,Charles and Lynn Schusterman who run the New Venture Melinda even has a leg up in games. Melinda has an elder sister and two younger brothers. Although Melindas mother, Elaine, herself never went to a college, she was very particular about her childrens education. And not just for games, she learned the BASIC programming language "and taught it to other kids during summer vacations. Then, by 1994, Bill and Melinda were married and the power couple has been improving the world ever since. She reportedly runs at a speedy seven miles-per-hour and exercises around five days a week, while still dealing with the demands of running the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It didn't take long to convince Bill in about six months she hired a new architect to completely overhaul the project. After all, is that what youwould have done with all that money? And so [Bill and I] had some negotiation to do.
Melinda Gates served Microsoft for around nine years. Although Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce on Twitter on Monday, it wasn't too soon for people to make memes about the tech giant's marital split. Were we just weeks away from Melinda being photographed with Hollywoods current go-to male arm candy, Pete Davidson? WebMelinda Gates. BILL AND MELINDA WORKING ON VACCINE DISTRIBUTION SINCE LAUNCH OF FOUNDATION. Bill and Melinda met at Microsoft. As she remembers, "I said, 'Two weeks from Friday? Bezos ex wife Mckenzie Scott and the guy she married. I cant wait to spend 25 more years laughing together. Melinda Gates is a mom to three children. She is also a global advocate for women and girls. Melinda was a brigh student in her high school days and always topped her class. "We're grateful that Time recognizes the importance of the world's inequities, whether they are in the United States or thousands of miles away," the couplesaid in a statementat the time. WebCo-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she is not only a tech-savvy businesswoman, but she is also an advocate for womens equality.
[15], French graduated as valedictorian from Ursuline Academy of Dallas in 1982. "One of the things I was most impressed about when Bill and I met Warren Buffett very early on was he introduced us to his friends," Melinda told Fortune. ", In other words, parties can enter into a prenuptial agreement, they could decide to rescind it and not have one, they can add sunset clauses to them [cease to have effect after a specific date]. According to The Times, Epstein had soon after complained to an acquaintance that Gates had stopped speaking with him. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Melinda Gates was born as Melinda Ann French on August 15, 1964. The filing states the only written agreement that relates to the divorce is a separation contract. - What other tech giant founders have gone through divorce? Bill Gates and Melinda Gates at an event at Lincoln Center in New York in 2018. with Hollywoods current go-to male arm candy, found a marriage pros and cons list Bill had made on a whiteboard, Melania Trumps Feelings About Her Husbands Indictment Are, Uh, Complex.
Gates penned a summary on LinkedIn of her experience on the project. A meeting between Bill and Melinda Gates and Jeffrey Epstein in 2013 left Melinda Gates upset at the relationship between her husband and the financier, The Daily Beast reported Thursday. In the early 1990s, French Gates was appointed as General Manager of Information Products, a position which she held until 1996. She said in the end, the entire experience "provided a chance to pause, learn something, and choose a new and better direction." You probably guessed the outcome. Munger has an estimated net worth of $2.1billion. (Theyre expected to continue to run it together.) Thereappears to be no prenuptial agreementfor the couple, who share three children. WebMelinda Gates. On Twitter on Monday, the two wrote: After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,, The tech mogul added that they no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives,. Melinda is the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, worlds largest private charitable foundation. I believe that in empowering women, you do empower everybody else because you lift up a woman. That is not good for society. [22], French Gates served as a member of Duke University's Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2003. Second, "Melinda also outperforms him athletically," the article continued. He added thattheir kids didnt get cell phonesuntil they were teenagers. There could have been one that they modified and turned into a separation agreement. [26][23] Since 2000, French Gates has been active in the public eye, stating "As I thought about strong women of history, I realized that they stepped out in some way". Earlier that year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed $750 million improving child immunizations, accelerating new vaccines, and strengthening vaccine delivery systems. [38][39][40] Although the couple did not have a prenuptial agreement,[40] French Gates (who filed) did not request spousal support;[39] her husband transferred over $2 billion worth of shares and stocks. Rabbani And Solimene Photography/Getty Images, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are actually collectively richer than several countries, suprisingly modest homeowner Warren Buffett, making her one of the world's wealthiest wives. And it's time to revisit the pieces that create some of these inequities. In 2011, Melinda restated the mission of her foundation as improving equity in four areas: global health, education, access to digital information via public libraries, and support for at-risk families in Washington State and Oregon.. She fondly remembers interacting with the Apple II one of the first home computers as a child. TheMicrosoftfounder, 65, and his wifehave an estimated combined wealth of $130billion, withproperties in five states, an art collection, private jet, and fleet of luxury cars. What's the short answer? Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce on Monday, and some have questioned whether there will be any issues of child support in their separation.
(TMZ says no, but the New York Times says there is believed to be one.) What will happen to their foundation, with an endowment of $50 billion? Several people close to the couple reportedly said she was "furious" over her husband's relationship with Epstein. The Gates divorce doesnt have to turn into a First Wives Clubesque tale of revengemaybe it really will be as equitable a divorce as they say their marriage was. "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. The economist is married to Bill Gates, her starsign is Leo and she is now 58 years of age. Her mother maintained her rental properties on the weekends to provide for her childrens school and tuition fee. I was never at any parties or anything like that. Report a problem? "We would help him run the business and keep the books," she said. On 15-8-1964 Melinda Gates (nickname: Melinda ) was born in Dallas, Texas. Munger and his second late wife Nancy previously donated 500 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, then valued at $43.5million in 2004, to Stanford to build a graduate student housing complex. Either that or to end climate change. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. The exact date of separation is not clear. Next came the Gates Millennium Scholars program (1999), which directed $1 billion toward minority study grants. This is why it seemed like such a shock when Bill and Melinda dropped a bombshell on Monday: They will divorce after 27 years of marriage. Prior to this week, Melinda Gates hasnt held an especially big pop cultural footprint: She was best known as one half of the foundation. By 2020, the foundation committed more than $1.7 billion to stopping Covid-19. Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft (MSFT), which launched in 1975, and he met Melinda French through the company in 1987. A meeting between the Gateses and Jeffrey Epstein in 2013 reportedly left Melinda Gates upset. In June billionaire investor Warren Buffett, a personal friend of the couple, announced his plan to direct some $30 billion of his fortune to the Gates Foundation in the coming years. A meeting between Bill and Melinda Gates and Jeffrey Epstein in 2013 left Melinda Gates upset at the relationship between her husband and the financier, The Daily Beast reported Thursday. Running the world's wealthiest charitable foundation is all about tough choices. ", Though he was once the richest man in the world (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos holds the distinction, as of this writing), it doesn't mean Bill Gates can win at everything. She is also a global advocate for women and girls. So I would say to young women and men in this country who are in their 20s and 30s: Gender roles change when you start to have children. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. During her graduation years, Melinda worked as a mathematics and computer programming teacher for a while.
"Billy G and the boys meeting up at Chilis after the divorce is final," wrote one person while sharing the viral video. Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). OLD BILL GATES MEMES RESURFACE IN WAKE OF DIVORCE NEWS. This video makes a strong case. And besides, Bill was not her first boyfriend with a boldface name: At Duke, Melinda dated chewing gum heir William Wrigley Jr., the Seattle Times once reported. Yes, Melinda, you out-donate his ass. Older and more experienced with computing, she assisted her father with a side business of operating rental properties. Melinda Gates is a mom to three children. And it wasn't all for nothing. In early 2019, Gates published her first book entitled, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. WebMelinda French Gates [2] (born Melinda Ann French; August 15, 1964) is an American philanthropist, former multimedia product developer and manager at Microsoft and the ex-wife of its co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates. 
And she added, "Even now, as we run our foundation, the Apple III is a symbol of our conviction that innovation makes the future better for everyone.". Gates, worth $130.5billion is one of the only eight people in the world worth over $100billion, and is the fourth richest man in the world. Bill Gates, the fourth richest man in the world with a networth of about $123 billion, is also the largest landowner in the United States. Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi arms dealer who built a $4 billion fortune, divorced Englishwoman Sandra Daly in 1974 in a reported $874 million split, which was the most expensive in history at the time. "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage," the two said in a statement on Twitter on Monday. 
Your purchase helps support NPR programming. She grew up in a middle-class family in Dallas. "That meant scrubbing floors and cleaning ovens and mowing the lawns," she confessed. MELINDA GATES CALLED HER MARRIAGE TO BILL 'IRRETRIEVABLY BROKEN' IN COURT DOCS.
The 97-year-old lawyer frequents the same social circle as he is close pals with billionaire Warren Buffett. 
She left the job in 1996. In my youth, I remember having the very enlightened thought, Thats nice that he let her name be in there too. (Their divorce announcement, notably to me, reversed the Bill and Melinda name order and was signed Melinda Gates and Bill Gates.) The story of their courtship is full of similarly slightly uncomfortableor maybe, in their way, admirable?details: Like the former Bezoses, Bill and Melinda met at work. Gates owns nearly 270,000 acres of land across more than 12 states, with the largest in Louisiana. There could have been one that they modified and turned into a separation agreement. Melinda kept her job until 1996 (where she used her maiden name, French), at which point she left to focus on starting a family. This also added speculation that their son Rory would attend the University of Chicago, which is minutes away from the home. On 15-8-1964 Melinda Gates (nickname: Melinda ) was born in Dallas, Texas. With all this dough, it's no surprise the pair picked up a few items along the way. Melinda Gates served Microsoft for around nine years. For efficient working of her organization, in 2006, Melinda divided the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation into three major departments: worldwide health, global development, and U.S. community and education. Despite the huge endowment and the Gateses personal wealth, the foundation funded no program single-handedly. As reported by Fortune, Melinda once had a particularly long day full of visiting her children's school, and hosting a charitable dinner. Along with Bill, Melinda initiated her charitable endeavours in 1994, largely at the behest of Bills father, William H. Gates, but also from the example of Bills mother, a devoted philanthropist who had died earlier that year. "[65] French Gates also spoke about this topic at the 2017 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, an annual series of conferences. The young girl went on to be valedictorian of her class at Ursuline, which got her into Duke University. According to Fortune, four months into her job at Microsoft, Melinda Gates took her first trip to New York City for the PC Expo trade show. [35][36], In May 2021, French Gates and her husband announced in a joint statement on social media their decision to divorce, ending 27 years of marriage, and 34 years as a couple.