Bill Gates gave $8b to Melinda French Gates’ Foundation after divorce

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has handed nearly $8 billion over to a private foundation of his former wife Melinda French Gates, in one of the largest divorce-related payouts ever disclosed, according to newly released US tax filings.

The $7.88 billion donation was made in 2024 to the Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, a nonprofit organisation established by French Gates, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times’ DealBook. 

The filing records the first clear financial details of the couple’s 2021 divorce following their formal separation of philanthropic work last year.

Melinda Gates had previously said that under the divorce settlement, she would receive billions of dollars to support independent charitable initiatives focused on women and families after stepping down as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Immediately following the divorce, Bill Gates transferred billions of dollars in stock to his former wife through Cascade Investment, his private holding and investment company. 

The settlement also included the division of real estate valued at more than $170 million, an art collection estimated at around $130 million, and a substantial holding of Microsoft shares. 

According to Forbes, the settlement left Melinda with assets estimated at about $25 billion.

The recently disclosed payment was associated with a separate charitable agreement that was triggered by Melinda’s departure from the Gates Foundation. Under this arrangement, Gates committed a total of $12.5 billion to support her independent philanthropy. Of this amount, $7.88 billion went to Pivotal Philanthropies, while the remaining approximately $4.6 billion is believed to have been transferred to Pivotal Ventures, a limited liability company that is not subject to public financial disclosure requirements.

Bill and Melinda French Gates announced their intention to divorce in May 2021, stating that they no longer believed they could “grow together”. The divorce was finalised in August that year, following a period of mounting public scrutiny and private strain.

Melinda later said that Gates’ meetings with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, were a significant factor in the breakdown of the marriage, citing a loss of trust. The split was further overshadowed by revelations that Gates had an affair with a Microsoft employee in 2000 and later exchanged emails with another female employee in 2008 that were deemed inappropriate, prompting a board review years later.

Gates stepped down from Microsoft’s board in 2020, months before the divorce was announced.

Following the multibillion-dollar transfer, the foundation rose rapidly into the top tier of US philanthropy. DealBook reported that the organisation held nearly $7 billion in assets last year, transforming it from a relatively modest operation into one of the largest private grant-making foundations in the country. By the end of 2023, Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation had reported assets totalling $604 million.