Divorce Of Bill Gates And Melinda French Gates Has Been Finalized

SEATTLE — Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates have finalized their divorce.

The Microsoft co-founder and his wife announced their divorce in May, and a King County Superior Court judge issued the dissolution decree on Monday. According to the New York Times, the court filings did not specify how they planned to split their assets.

Bill Gates was once the world’s richest man, with an estimated fortune of $150 billion.

They met in 1987 when she started working at Microsoft as a product manager. In Hawaii, the two married in 1994.

With a $50 billion endowment, the Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Charity is the world’s most powerful private foundation. Since its inception in 2000, it has focused on worldwide health and development as well as education concerns in the United States.

As co-chairs of their foundation, the two have said that they will continue to collaborate. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation stated earlier this month that if Gates and French Gates feel they cannot continue in their roles after two years, French Gates would quit as co-chair and trustee.

If French Gates resigns, Gates would effectively buy her out of the foundation, which is one of the world’s greatest private charity organizations, and she will get funds from him to continue her humanitarian efforts. According to the foundation, the funds received would be independent of the endowment.