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American billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has reportedly paid nearly $8 billion to his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, five years after their highly publicised divorce, following revelations about his extramarital affairs.
According to a report by The New York Times, Gates made a $7.88 billion donation in 2024 to Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, marking one of the largest public charitable donations ever disclosed.
The payment was revealed in a recent tax filing, offering the first clear insight into the financial terms of the couple’s 2021 divorce.
The donation is believed to be part of a broader $12.5 billion agreement reached between the former couple. A representative of Pivotal Philanthropies confirmed that the agreement has now been fully honoured, with the $7.88 billion forming a major component of the settlement.
Bill and Melinda Gates, who were married for 27 years, announced their separation in 2021 in what has since been described as the most expensive divorce settlement in history. Reports later revealed that Melinda received assets estimated at $76 billion following the split.
Melinda officially resigned from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2024. Despite stepping away from the organisation they co-founded, she reportedly encouraged Gates to channel significant funds into a new charitable structure she intended to establish. Pivotal Philanthropies, which she founded in 2022, had approximately $604 million in assets by the end of 2023 before the latest donation.
The divorce came amid growing scrutiny of Bill Gates’ personal conduct. Months after the separation, details emerged of an alleged affair between Gates and a former Microsoft employee.
The woman reportedly wrote a letter to Microsoft’s board in 2019, outlining the relationship, which she claimed began in 2000, and requested that Melinda be informed.
Following the complaint, Microsoft’s board launched an internal investigation and later described the relationship as “inappropriate.” Gates resigned from the company’s board in March 2020 while the probe was ongoing, before a formal decision was reached.
Further reports later alleged that Gates had repeatedly made advances toward female employees both at Microsoft and at the charitable foundation he ran with his then-wife.
Additional controversy followed claims that Gates had sought marriage advice from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, with whom he reportedly maintained a close relationship after first meeting in 2011.
Details of their association became public in 2019, months after Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges. Reports alleged that Gates had visited Epstein multiple times, including trips on his private jet.
Despite the controversies, the recent donation marks a significant financial chapter in the aftermath of one of the world’s most closely watched divorces.
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