Bill Gates’ $8 Billion Donation to Melinda French Gates’ Charity Linked to Divorce Settlement

Bill Gates has donated nearly $8 billion to a charity run by his ex-wife Melinda French Gates, marking one of the largest publicly disclosed philanthropic transfers in recent years.

According to a report by The New York Times, the Microsoft co-founder made a $7.88 billion donation in 2024 to Melinda’s Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation. The contribution comes three years after the couple announced their divorce and was revealed through a recent tax filing.

The filing provides the clearest financial insight so far into the 2021 divorce settlement between Bill and Melinda Gates, once regarded as one of the world’s most influential philanthropic partnerships. The couple announced their separation in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

Melinda French Gates formally stepped away from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2024, ending decades of joint work in global health, education and poverty alleviation. She had launched Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation in late 2022, focusing on advancing women’s rights, economic mobility and social equality.

The divorce followed renewed scrutiny of Bill Gates’ past relationship with a Microsoft employee. In 2019, the woman sent a letter to Microsoft’s board describing an affair that reportedly began in 2000 and requesting that Melinda be informed.

Microsoft’s board investigated the claims and later described the relationship as “inappropriate,” according to The Wall Street Journal. While the investigation was ongoing, Gates resigned from Microsoft’s board in March 2020, saying at the time that he wanted to focus on philanthropy.