Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates sent nearly $8 billion to his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, for charity work, instantly making her foundation one of the world’s largest nonprofits, a new report has revealed.
The pair announced their divorce in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage. They subsequently split up their philanthropic efforts, with French Gates announcing in May 2024 that she would resign as co-chair of the Gates Foundation.
The Gates Foundation has spent $53.8 billion since 2000 on health, gender equality, global development and education, according to its website.
When French Gates announced her resignation, she wrote on X, “Under the terms of my agreement with Bill, in leaving the foundation, I will have an additional $12.5 billion to commit to my work on behalf of women and families.”
Most of that money has reportedly been allocated to Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in 2022 as part of the broader group, Pivotal, which French Gates founded in 2015 to “accelerate the pace of social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world,” according to its website.
Gates made a $7.88 billion donation in 2024 to Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, according to a tax filing reviewed by The New York Times.
A spokesperson for Pivotal told The Independent that the donation was part of Gates and French Gates's agreement when she left the Gates Foundation.
The spokesperson said the $12.5 billion commitment has been fulfilled. It’s unclear where the remaining $4.62 billion was allocated.
According to Pivotal’s website, French Gates has committed $2 billion to “expanding women’s power and influence,” which is presumably separate from Gates’ donation.
Before Gates’ donation was reported, his net worth was $118 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. According to Forbes, French Gates’s net worth is $29.4 billion, with the outlet estimating that her divorce settlement was worth $25 billion.
