Melinda Gates To Exit Gates Foundation With $12.5 Bln For Own Charity Work

By himalaya Diary News Service On May 14, 2024

PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 23: US philanthropist Melinda French Gates arrives for a meeting at the Elysee Palace, amid the New Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris on June 23, 2023 in Paris, France. The French president hosted a summit of political and business leaders to discuss a plan for financing developing countries' needs and vulnerabilities, especially those heightened by climate change Photo by Christian Liewig - Corbis/Getty Images)

Melinda French Gates is leaving the charitable foundation she co-founded with former spouse Bill Gates more than 20 years ago and will get $12.5 billion for her own work to uplift women and families, she said on Monday. Her last day at the foundation will be June 7.

The billionaire benefactors parted ways in 2021 after 27 years of marriage but had pledged to continue their philanthropic work together. Their final divorce order filed in a Seattle court had no details on an agreement reached between the two on how to divide their marital assets.

“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,” Melinda Gates said on social media platform X, without disclosing more details about her plans.

The foundation is one of the most powerful and influential forces in global public health, having spent more than $75 billion since its inception to bring a business approach to combating poverty and disease. From 1994 through 2018, Bill and Melinda gifted about $59.5 billion to the Seattle-based foundation, its website said.