(RepublicanNews.org) – After more than two decades with the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as co-founder, Melinda French Gates is leaving the foundation and will walk away with a hefty $12.5 billion.
On Monday, May 13th, Melinda Gates announced she would be stepping away from the foundation she founded with her ex-husband, big tech entrepreneur Bill Gates.
In 2021, she and her former spouse parted ways after 27 years together, although she pledged to continue her philanthropic endeavors with him. According to the final divorce documents filed in court in Seattle, Washington, a final agreement between the two about how to split up marital assets wasn’t yet detailed.
In a social media post announcing her departure from the foundation she co-founded in 2000, which is the second largest charitable foundation on earth, Melinda Gates said the terms of an agreement made with Bill Gates allowed her to leave with an additional $12.5 billion in funds upon resignation that would be committed to her own charity work for women and struggling families.
The departure also calls for a rebrand. With Melinda Gates no longer the organization’s co-chair, it will now be known as the Gates Foundation with Bill Gates as the sole chairperson, according to CEO Mark Suzman. The CEO said Melinda Gates wishes to focus her next chapter “specifically on altering” a trajectory in the U.S. that she views as the rolling back of women’s rights.
Bill Gates said he was sorry to see his ex-wife leave, but he’s “sure she will have a huge impact” going forward in her own philanthropic work. Since its inception, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has become one of the most influential and impactful organizations dedicated to global public health, spending over $75 billion on efforts to combat global poverty, disease, and other issues.
Melinda Gate will shift her focus onto Pivotal Ventures, an investment company founded in 2015 that focuses on families and women in need.
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