Bill and Melinda Gates announced their separation Monday evening, after 27 years of marriage.
A procedure that should see billions of dollars waltz ... The ex-couple has however committed to continue his philanthropic action through one of the largest private charitable foundations in the world.
The Parisian immerses himself in numbers in what could be the most expensive divorce in history.
XXL fortune
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University to co-found computer giant Microsoft with his school friend Paul Allen in 1975. Gates owned 49% of Microsoft when it went public in 1986, which made him instantly a multimillionaire. Thanks to Microsoft's explosive growth, he quickly became the richest person in the world.
He has since lost that title, in part because he donated so much money to philanthropic causes, but also because he was overtaken by the growth of other businesses. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, as well as LVMH boss (owner of Le Parisien / Today in France), Bernard Arnault now occupy the first three places on the list of the biggest fortunes of the world according to Forbes, while "the little guy from Seattle" ranks in fourth place, with $ 124 billion (103 billion euros).
For years, Bill Gates has invested in multiple companies, in a wide variety of industries.
Via one of his real estate companies, he would notably be the majority shareholder of the Four Seasons hotel chain and a few prestigious hotels in the United States.
A global foundation
Melinda and Bill Gates, married in 1994 in Hawaii, created in 2000 the “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation”, based in Seattle. It is one of the largest charities in the world, which focuses on public health, education and climate change. Its grants have until recently allocated some $ 1.75 billion for vaccination, diagnostic and research initiatives during the Covid-19 pandemic. The foundation ended 2019 with net assets of $ 43.3 billion, the latest figures for the full year disclosed on its website. A figure up by nearly 4 billion compared to 2018.
The organization has 37 active funding programs.
In total, the foundation spent more than $ 5 billion in 2019 on programs in the United States and around the world, excluding administration costs, and employs 1,602 people.
Since 2006, it has been divided into two entities: the Foundation on one side and a trust of the same name on the other, which manages assets and donations.
This trust also represents nearly 50 billion in assets.
From 1994 to 2018, Bill and Melinda Gates donated more than $ 36 billion while Warren Buffett has donated more than $ 29 billion to the Gates Foundation since 2006, according to official statements made by the foundation.
An important real estate heritage
The couple, who have three children, own a mansion on Lake Washington with an estimated 2020 value of $ 130.8 million, according to the King County Department of Assessments. Their primary residence is between Seattle and its eastern suburbs, including Redmond, where Microsoft's headquarters are located. According to the Wall Street Journal, they also own a "beach house" in the San Diego area, estimated at $ 43 million, and also own the Rancho Paseana in Santa Fe, Calif., A full-scale equestrian center. worth $ 18 million. Finally, Bill Gates owns a ranch in Florida estimated at $ 8.7 million.
The couple's heritage is therefore sprawling and should be the subject of thousands of hours of work by specialized lawyers. For now, the financial details of their separation are still under wraps. But according to Reuters and the TMZ site, the ex-couple would like a sharing of the common assets, according to the separation agreement they reached and which was filed in King County Superior Court. They hope for a judgment in April 2022.
