Bill and Melinda Gates smile at each other during an interview in Kirkland, Wash. in 2019. The couple announced Monday, May 3, 2021, that they are divorcing.
Elaine Thompson/AP
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Elaine Thompson/AP
Bill and Melinda Gates smile at each other during an interview in Kirkland, Wash. in 2019. The couple announced Monday, May 3, 2021, that they are divorcing.
Elaine Thompson/AP
Bill Gates and his wife Melinda announced on Monday they are splitting after 27 years of marriage.
“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 wrote in a joint statement posted on Twitter.
Bill Gates is reportedly worth upwards of $130 billion and considered to be the world’s fourth wealthiest person. He stepped down as a board member of Microsoft, which he founded with Paul Allen in 1975, in March 2020.
“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 pair added.
The two chair the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, now the world’s largest private charitable foundation. Since its founding in 2000, Gates has donated about $35.8 billion worth of Microsoft stock to the global organization, which funds projects to reduce poverty and improve global health in the developing world, according to Forbes.
“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.”
Shortly after the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a grinding halt, the Gates Foundation announced it would spend $300 million to fight the spread of COVID-19 and develop new treatments and a vaccine.
NPR is among the organizations supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.