Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates has given his ex-wife Melinda $8billion five years after they divorced over his rumoured affairs and closeness to Jeffrey Epstein.
Gates made the $7.88billion donation to Melinda’s Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation in 2024, The New York Times revealed.
Melinda resigned from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that they ran together in May 2024 and suggested her ex donate $12.5billion to her new foundation which works to advance social progress for women.
A representative for women’s advocacy group Pivotal confirmed to the Times that the $12.5billion agreement has been fulfilled, and the nearly $8billion donation was part of that agreement.
The donation was listed on his 2025 tax filing, but it is unclear how the rest of the $12.5billion agreement was split and where the donations were made.
Melinda married Gates in 1994 and split with him in 2021 after the couple had three children together.
Very few details of their divorce have been made public, and the tax filing reveals the first specific financial contribution of their split.
Melinda has previously admitted that her ex-husband’s friendship with disgraced pedophile financier Epstein was a driving factor for their split.
Gates has refused to say whether he was unfaithful to Melinda, but previously admitted he ‘certainly made mistakes’ in their marriage and claimed to ‘take responsibility’.
However, the Microsoft founder’s friendship with the pedophile was thrust back into the spotlight in December after he was seen in a photograph with Epstein in a tranche of evidence from the pedophile’s estate.
In undated images from the tranche, Gates was pictured with two women whose faces were blurred.
An additional picture reveals that Epstein kept a framed photo of Gates on the wall at his mansion on his private island.
Gates was also pictured standing alongside Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew.
The Microsoft founder has persistently downplayed his ties to the sex trafficker in the past.
In April, Melinda stunned Late Show host Stephen Colbert with her candid answer about the end of her 27-year marriage with the Microsoft founder.
She explained to Colbert that her relationship with the father of her three children lacked trust and honesty, which forced her to leave.
Is Melinda’s settlement fair?
Comment now ‘I learned to have a trusted relationship, which is what I wanted in marriage, both partners have to be honest with one another,’ Melinda said.
‘And if you can’t, you can’t have intimacy and you can’t have trust. So in the end, I had to go.’
Last year, Melinda also revealed that Bill did not consult her before deciding to give away the massive fortune accumulated by the foundation she co-founded.
‘This particular decision was made after I left,’ Melinda revealed. ‘It was made between Bill and Mark [Suzman, the foundation’s CEO] and the board, and I think it’s a fantastic decision.’
In May, Bill announced that he will give away 99 per cent of his immense fortune in the coming years, leaving one per cent for himself and his children.
He is shuttering the Gates Foundation by December 31, 2045, effectively ending a lifelong project to give away his multi-billion fortune.
The tech mogul plans to distribute ‘virtually all’ of his wealth, approximately $200 billion, within the next 20 years.
Bill will hold onto just one percent of his fortune – which still equals out to an estimated $1.62 billion.
He has three adult children he shares with Melinda – Phoebe, Rory, and Jennifer – who will most likely inherit the remaining millions in cash Gates has upon his death.
