From the BBC:
“Bill and Melinda Gates
divorce after 27 years of marriage”
Bill and Melinda Gates have
announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage, saying "we no longer
believe we can grow together as a couple". "After a great deal of
thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end
our marriage," the pair wrote on Twitter. They first met in the 1980s when
Melinda joined Bill's Microsoft firm. They have three children and jointly run
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The organisation has spent billions
fighting causes such as infectious diseases and encouraging vaccinations in
children.
The Gates - along with investor
Warren Buffett - are behind the Giving Pledge, which calls on billionaires to
commit to giving away the majority of their wealth to good causes. Bill Gates
is the fourth wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes, and is worth
$124bn (£89bn). He made his money through the firm he co-founded in the 1970s,
Microsoft, the world's biggest software company. The pair both posted the
statement announcing their divorce on Twitter. "Over the last 27 years, we
have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all
over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives," it
read. "We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our
work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together
as a couple in the next phase of our lives. "We ask for space and privacy
for our family as we begin to navigate this new life."
How did they get together? Melinda
joined Microsoft as a product manager in 1987, and the two sat together at a
business dinner that year in New York. They began dating, but as Bill
told a Netflix documentary: "We cared a lot for each other and there were
only two possibilities: either, we were going to break up or we were going to
get married." Melinda said she found Bill - methodical it seems
even in matters of the heart - writing a list on a whiteboard with the
"pros and the cons of getting married". They got married in
1994 on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, reportedly hiring up all the local
helicopters to stop unwanted guests flying over. Bill Gates stepped down
from Microsoft's board last year to focus on his philanthropic activities.
^ I have to say this put a smile
on my face when I heard it. I am not usually happy to hear about someone’s
divorce or their failings, but in the Gates’ case I am. They have always acted
so “holier than thou” and thrown their wealth and privilege in everyone’s face now
it seems they have at least one failure and it’s public. I know they have given money
to those in need, but that is what you expect people with Hundreds of Billions
of Dollars to do – especially if you consider how they got a lot of that money.
^
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