Melinda French Gates is stepping down as co-chair of the $63 billion foundation she set up two decades ago with her ex-husband, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, according to a statement she posted on social media on Monday.
“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” French Gates wrote in her statement, noting that her last day of work at the foundation would be on June 7 and that she was “immensely proud” of the foundation she had built with her ex-husband.
Melinda and Bill Gates divorced in May 2021, following nearly 30 years of marriage. But French Gates had continued to support the foundation and its work, even after the divorce.
French Gates did not provide any reason for her resignation on Monday, saying only that “the time is right for me to move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy.” But the possibility of a split had been hinted three years ago.
After the Gates’ divorce in 2021, the Foundation had publicly said that French Gates would resign as co-chair and trustee if, after two years, either of them decided “that they cannot continue to work together.” A Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spokesperson declined to comment apart from pointing to French Gates’ statement.
Following French Gates’ resignation, the Foundation will change its name to the “Gates Foundation,” according to a statement from Foundation CEO Mark Suzman he posted on X. “Bill will become the sole Chair of the foundation,” Suzman wrote. The Gates Foundation reported having $63.6 billion in assets on its most recent filing with the IRS, according to records.
As part of an agreement she made with Bill Gates, Melinda Gates said that she now has “an additional $12.5 billion to commit to my work on behalf of women and families.”
It was not immediately clear if French Gates planned to set up a new non-profit organization to pursue her philanthropic work, or to combine the efforts with some of her existing organizations. In 2019, French Gates had separately committed $1 billion of her own money to Pivotal Ventures, a company focused on improving women’s lives in the U.S. Via venture capital, philanthropic giving, and advocacy.
“The investments Pivotal makes in these funds aren’t philanthropic,” French Gates wrote in a commentary piece for Coins2Day last year. “These are return-seeking investments, and we expect them to be profitable. I want to signal to other investors that by overlooking these opportunities, they’re leaving money on the table.”
French Gates and MacKenzie Scott, who divorced from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019, have become two of the most renowned philanthropists in the United States. Scott pledged to give away more than half of her wealth after her divorce from Bezos, and has given away more than $16.5 billion to more than 1,900 non-profits in the last few years.
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