Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce without a prenuptial agreement but did sign a “separation agreement.”

The world was shocked to learn that Microsoft’s billionaire owner Bill Gates and his wife of 27 years, Melinda Gates, were divorcing.

We no longer believe we can grow together as a couple, the two said in a joint statement announcing their breakup.

The couple, who first connected in 1980 when Melinda joined Bill’s business, tweeted, “We have decided to end our marriage after much thought and much work on our relationship.”

Many people were surprised by this because the couple always seemed to get along well and, more importantly, they gave off the impression that they were an inseparable unit.

The divorce’s potential impact on global tech advancement and philanthropy, as well as how their immense wealth and assets would be divided in light of the fact that they didn’t sign a prenuptial agreement when they first got married, were all questions that were raised by the announcement. Sincerity be damned, their separation was as shocking as the fact that they didn’t sign such a contract.

Bill had already reached his first billion dollar milestone when the price of a share of Microsoft stock reached $90.75 when the two first met. Microsoft had offices in Japan and Great Britain by the year 1983. The assumption was made that this intelligent young man, who scored 1590 out of 1600 on the college SAT test, would become well-known in the industry at the time because about 30% of the computers in the world ran on Microsoft’s software.

In the Netflix miniseries Inside Bill’s Brain, Bill referred to the time he first started dating Melinda and said, “She had other boyfriends, and I had Microsoft. Hey, we’re not really serious with each other, are we? We won’t be making time demands on one another.

Melinda recalled a time when she saw Bill writing a list of the “pros and cons of getting married” on a whiteboard and talked about how their relationship began. They “talked over dinner,” and the next day he was waiting for her at the parking lot, she wrote in her 2019 memoir The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World.

She wrote, “He struck up a conversation and will ask me out on Friday. That’s not spontaneous enough for me, I laughed and said. Give me a call when the date is closer; I gave him my number.

“I think he got interested when I beat him at a math game and won the first round of Clue, the board game where you have to figure out who killed the victim and where they were killed with what weapon,” the author claims.

After some time of dating, the couple decided to get married in Lanai, Hawaii, in 1994.

The eldest daughter of the Gates made a comment following the announcement of their separation. For our entire family, it has been a difficult period. I appreciate having the room to figure out how to best support my family members at this time while also assisting my own process and emotions. Please know that your caring words and support mean the world to me. I personally won’t comment further on anything related to the separation.

Even though there is no prenuptial agreement, the soon-to-be ex-couple do have a “separation agreement,” which is an intriguing fact that has come to light and caught the public’s attention. No additional information, such as the precise contents of that agreement, has been made public. It was signed between them, and the court was not involved, as far as is known. It outlines each of Bill and Melinda’s rights and responsibilities, including details about custody and child support. Melinda won’t be requesting any help.

The couple’s assets, business holdings, and property should be divided “as set forth in our separation contract,” according to TMZ.

 

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