BILL AND MELINDA GATES

ARE DIVORCING

By

Søren Nielsen

2021

Bill and Melinda Gates, two of the richest people in the world, who reshaped philanthropy and public health with the fortune Mr. Gates made as a co-founder of Microsoft, said on Monday that they were divorcing.

For decades, Mr. and Ms. Gates have been powerful forces on the world stage, their vast charitable contributions affording them access to the highest levels of government, business and the nonprofit sector. 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with an endowment of some $50 billion, has had immense influence in fields like global health and early-childhood education, and has made great strides in reducing deaths caused by malaria and other infectious diseases. 

Over the past year, the couple have been especially visible, regularly commenting on the worldwide fight against Covid-19 as their foundation spent more than $1 billion to combat the pandemic.

"After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage," Mr. and Ms. Gates said in a statement that was posted to Twitter.

They went on to say that they had "built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives" and that they "continue to share a belief in that mission," but they "no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives."

Is Melinda Divorcing Bill Gates Over Jeffrey Epstein?

Bill Gates flew on Epstein’s Lolita Express in 2013, four years after the deceased pedophile was released from prison for soliciting sex from a minor.

Bill Gates said yesterday, that he made a mistake when he met with sex trafficker "Jeffrey Epstein".

Bill Gates realized his mistake, after speaking with an advisor.

Melinda is embarrassed that Bill lied to her and he lied to the court and to the media for years, that he never stayed with Jeffrey Epstein in Paris, New York or getting on Epstein’s Lolita Express and went to Epstein`s Pedophile Island.

It turns out that he has been all three places and spent months all 3 places.

Bill and Melinda Gates are hiring star lawyers for their divorce, with links to the Bezos split and Warren Buffett.

A petition for divorce, filed Monday by Melinda Gates at King County superior court in Seattle, Washington, said their marriage was "irretrievably broken." 

It also showed that they didn’t sign a prenuptial agreement, which is a contract signed before getting married to specify the division of assets should the marriage fail. 

Instead, the divorce papers showed the Gateses had signed a separation agreement to divide their assets.

In addition, the papers showed they had each assembled a team of high profile lawyers to handle their divorce.

One of the lawyers listed as representing Melinda Gates is Bellevue-based attorney Sherri Anderson. 

She also reportedly represented Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in his split from MacKenzie Scott in 2019, which was the world’s most expensive divorce. 

Meanwhile, the attorney who was said to have represented Scott in the divorce, Ted Billbe, is listed as one of the lawyers on Bill Gates’ legal team. 

Ronald Olson of the firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, who is a director at Warren Buffett’s investment group Berkshire Hathaway, is also on Gates’ legal team.

Olson has worked on business matters with a number of other high-profile clients, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as well as Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

The attorneys cited were not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC. 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Breakthrough Energy were also contacted for comment.