Melinda French Gates left the Gates Foundation with $12.5 billion from Bill Gates under their divorce agreement

Bill and Melinda Gates married in 1994 and co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They announced their divorce in May 2021. Bill Gates's holding company, Cascade Investment, transferred billions of dollars in shares to her that month^†. The couple agreed she could leave the foundation after two years if they could not work together^†. On May 13, 2024^† she announced she would resign as co-chair effective June 7. She said that under her agreement with her ex-husband she would receive $12.5 billion for her work on women and families. A foundation spokesperson said the money came from Bill Gates personally, not from the foundation trust. The foundation was renamed the Gates Foundation^†. In 2025 Bill Gates said the foundation would spend down and close by 2045^†. The announcement of her exit came about three years after the divorce. Her new spending runs through her own organization, Pivotal Ventures^†, outside the foundation she co-founded.