Bill Gates has transferred $7.88 billion (£6.2bn) to a charitable foundation run by his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, according to newly revealed tax filings. The donation, made to Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation in 2024, is one of the largest public charitable gifts ever recorded and sheds light on the financial terms of the couple's 2021 divorce.
The Microsoft co-founder and Melinda French Gates announced their split in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage, in what was widely described as the most expensive divorce settlement in history. Melinda reportedly received $76 billion in assets as part of the agreement. The latest filing shows that the nearly $8bn payment formed part of a financial understanding linked to the divorce, with a representative for Pivotal confirming the agreement has now been fulfilled.
Melinda French Gates stepped down from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2024, suggesting at the time that her ex-husband should donate $12.5 billion to a new charitable foundation she intended to create. Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation had assets of $604 million at the end of 2023, before the substantial donation.
The divorce was followed by revelations about an affair Gates had with a Microsoft employee. The woman wrote to the company's board of directors in 2019 detailing the relationship, which began in 2000, and reportedly demanded that Melinda read her letter. The board subsequently deemed the relationship inappropriate, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal. Gates resigned from Microsoft's board in 2020 while an investigation was still ongoing.
Additional reports claimed Gates had regularly made unwanted advances towards staff at both Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He also faced scrutiny over his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whom he first met in 2011. Gates previously described his meetings with Epstein as a "mistake" and said he regretted them. Now 67, Gates remains one of Microsoft's largest shareholders and one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.
