Earlier this month, Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates announced their divorce. On that day, Melinda became a billionaire.
Bill Gate’s investment vehicle, Cascade Investment, transferred approximately $2.4 billion to Melinda Gates on Tuesday. According to CNN International, the following day, his net worth fell slightly from $130.4 billion to $128 billion. However, Bill Gates preserved his status as the fourth richest man in the world.
Jeff Bezos ($177 billion) holds first place, Elon Musk ($157 billion) has a second place, and Bernard Arnault ($150 billion) falls in third place, just above Bill Gates.
According to CNN International, Melinda Gates received 14 million shares of Canadian National Railway Co. and 2.92 million shares of AutoNation. Canadian National Railway Co. is worth $1.5 billion, and Autonation is worth an estimated $309 million.
Melinda also received 155 million shares of Grupo Televisa SA- net worth $386 million- and 25.5 million shares of Mexican Coca-Cola- worth $120 million.
Until 2000, Bill Gates was Microsoft’s CEO, and he then moved out of the chief executive position in 2008. Until 2014, he was chairman of the board and declared that he was moving out to focus on philanthropy last year.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was founded in 2000 by the couple. According to CNN International, it is a nonprofit organisation that has devoted more than $52 billion since its formation to target inequity and poverty worldwide.
Melinda Gates and Bill Gates met at a business dinner in New York. Melinda was a product manager at Microsoft at the time. They were married in 1994 in Hawaii.
Their divorce filings show they requested a judge in New York state to divide their property according to the terms of the separation contract, generally issued when partners live apart but have not yet divorced.
