Bill Gates Transfers Nearly $8bn to Ex-Wife in Divorce Settlement, With $4.6bn Still Outstanding

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates paid his former wife, Melinda French Gates, nearly $8 billion as part of their divorce settlement, according to newly released tax filings.

The $7.88 billion transfer, first reported by The New York Times DealBook newsletter, appeared as a 2024 donation to Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation. The Times described it as one of the largest charitable contributions ever publicly disclosed.

Melinda French Gates announced in May 2024 that she was stepping down as co-chair of the Seattle-based Gates Foundation, following the couple’s 2021 divorce. Under the terms of the settlement, she received a total of $12.5 billion to fund her own philanthropic efforts focused on women and families.

Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, which was founded in 2022, has distributed more than $540 million in grants between 2022 and 2024. The Times reported that about $4.6 billion of the settlement had not yet appeared in public tax records and could surface in 2025 filings, or may have been transferred to a private entity such as French Gates’ investment company, Pivotal Ventures, which does not publish tax returns.

Pivotal confirmed to GeekWire that the full $12.5 billion settlement agreement has now been completed. GeekWire said it had contacted representatives for Bill Gates and would provide updates if responses are received.

Bill and Melinda French Gates announced the end of their 27-year marriage in May 2021. They married on January 1, 1994, had three children, and built one of the most influential philanthropic partnerships in the world.

Bill Gates is currently ranked 13th on the Forbes Billionaires List with an estimated net worth of $108 billion, while Melinda French Gates is ranked 77th with a net worth of $29.4 billion.