Melinda Gates’s charity quietly received an eye-watering $7.9 billion donation from her ex-husband Bill Gates, five years after their bombshell divorce.
On Friday, the New York Times reported that the Bill Gates Foundation made the huge payment to the private foundation of his ex-wife as part of their settlement in 2024.
The massive sum, made to Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, is one of the largest public charitable contributions in history.
The former power couple’s divorce is the most expensive to date with Melinda getting a $76 billion payout following 27 years of marriage.
Before their split, the Gates’ were among the world’s richest couples in the world and had a joint fortune of $130 billion at their peak.
Melinda, who shares three children with the tech tycoon, said their marriage had been ‘irretrievably broken’ in a 2021 statement.
Indeed, high-profile splits have always been known to end up costing more money than most people would ever be able to make in their lifetime.
But even for the wealthy, the settlement costs in some cases are jaw-dropping, earning them a place on the list of most expensive divorces to date.
When it comes to the big bucks, it’s tech founders such as Gates and Jeff Bezos who have had to shell out billions.
Swiss-born socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein was the cat that got the cream in the years after her art dealer husband Alec Wildenstein paid out their $2.5 billion settlement.
She then managed to squander that money thanks in large part to her love for cosmetic procedures and her affinity for domesticating rare animals.
MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Bezos was handed $38 billion in their 2019 divorce.
She also walked away with a settlement that gave her 25 percent of the couple’s Amazon stock.
The novelist was married to Bezos for 26 years, and by his side when he launched Amazon from their garage.
Hollywood stars are all too familiar with big divorce costs.
When Braveheart star Mel Gibson split from his ex-wife Robyn Moore in 2011, she walked away with $425 million.
Meanwhile, director Steven Spielberg paid $100 million to his ex-wife Amy Irving when they split in 1989.
Unsurprisingly, sports stars are just as likely to part with large amounts of cash when they call time on their marriages.
NBA legend Michael Jordan ended up paying $168 million to his first wife, Juanita in 2006.
Golf superstar Tiger coughed up $100 million following his messy split from ex-wife Elin Nordegren in 2010.
