In a stunning financial disclosure, billionaire Bill Gates has finalized his divorce from Melinda French Gates with a monumental $7.88 billion donation to her charitable foundation. This payment, made in 2024, represents part of the settlement from their 2021 split, which was triggered by revelations of Gates's infidelity.
The Record-Breaking Divorce Payout
The details emerged from a new tax filing, reported by The New York Times, providing the first specific financial terms of the couple's high-profile separation. The sum is one of the largest public donations ever recorded. A representative for Melinda's Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation confirmed that this nearly $8 billion transfer fulfills a broader $12.5 billion agreement between the ex-couple.
Melinda French Gates established the Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation in 2022, following the divorce. By the end of 2023, it held $604 million in assets. Her resignation from the joint Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2024 marked a definitive end to their philanthropic partnership. Despite the split, she negotiated for her ex-husband to contribute the massive sum to her new charitable venture.
Affairs and Scandal: The Cause of the Split
The Gateses ended their 27-year marriage in 2021, embarking on what is considered the world's most expensive divorce settlement. Melinda ultimately received approximately $76 billion in assets. The split was precipitated by Gates's repeated misconduct.
Months after the divorce announcement, it was revealed that Gates had an affair with a Microsoft employee. The woman had written a letter to the company's board in 2019, detailing a relationship that began in the year 2000 and demanding Melinda see it. The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft's board investigated and deemed Gates's relationship with the employee "inappropriate."
Gates abruptly resigned from the Microsoft board in March 2020 while the investigation was ongoing, before a formal decision could be made. Further reports alleged that Gates had a pattern of hitting on staffers at both Microsoft and his own philanthropic foundation.
The Jeffrey Epstein Connection
Adding to the scandal, a separate report claimed Bill Gates sought marriage advice from the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The two men reportedly shared a "close" relationship after first meeting in 2011.
Their friendship came to light in 2019, months after Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial for child sex trafficking. Gates and Epstein spent time together on multiple occasions, including flights on Epstein's private jet—infamously nicknamed the "Lolita Express"—and at late-night gatherings at Epstein's Manhattan home.
This $8 billion payment closes a painful and public chapter for the former power couple, but the revelations about the conduct that led to their split continue to cast a long shadow over Gates's legacy.
