Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife and fellow philanthropist Melinda on Monday night announced they are divorcing after a 27-year marriage.
The announcement comes two years after the divorce of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, another of the world’s wealthiest people, and his wife MacKenzie.
Here are things you should know about Bill Gates and Melinda:
- They met in the late 1980s when Melinda joined Bill’s Microsoft firm and have three children.
- The two got married in Hawaii in 1994 after Bill Gates had weighed the pros and cons on a blackboard.
- The couple runs Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which funds programmes in global health, gender equality, education, and other causes.
- They dedicated $20 billion worth of Microsoft stock to the foundation as they sought to increase their commitment to philanthropy, Bill Gates wrote in a 2019 blog post.
- The two are co-chairs and trustees of the foundation, which launched in 2000. The foundation has over $51 billion in assets, according to a tax filing.
- Bill Gates owns 1.37% of Microsoft’s outstanding shares, which are worth more than $26 billion, according to FactSet.
- The couple were creators, along with Warren Buffett, of the Giving Pledge, which involves giving away more than half of their wealth.