Billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates donated nearly $8 billion to his ex-wife Melinda French Gates’ private foundation as part of the couple’s divorce settlement. The donation is considered one of the largest philanthropic contributions ever publicly recorded.
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According to the The New York Timesthe information appears in a tax declaration analyzed by Theodore Schleifer, from The Timeswhich reveals the first specific financial terms of the separation that occurred in 2021, followed by the division of their philanthropic initiatives in 2024.
Bill Gates
The document records that Gates donated US$7.88 billion in 2024 to the Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, created by Melinda in 2022.
Melinda announced in May 2024 that she would step down as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and at the time said that Gates would donate $12.5 billion to her charitable initiatives. But the precise terms of the couple’s philanthropic split have not been made public.
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To the New York TimesPivotal refused to detail the discrepancy between the values, but confirmed that the US$12.5 billion agreement was fulfilled. According to a foundation spokesperson, the donation of almost US$7.9 billion was part of this agreement.
The Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation is now one of the largest private foundations in the United States. One year after its creation, at the end of 2023, it already had US$604 million in cash. In 2024, it had US$7.4 billion in assets, after having made less than US$500 million in philanthropic donations that year.
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Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce in May 2021, after almost 30 years of marriage, during which time they created the Gates Foundation and had three children. Three years later, Melinda left the foundation.
In a cover interview with People magazine, published in April, Melinda stated that she sees it as her responsibility to use her great fortune to help those who need it most, arguing that resources of this size should be donated consciously and with the greatest possible impact.
