Five years after their high-profile divorce, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has donated $8 billion to his ex-wife Melinda French Gates. The move comes amid lingering
questions about his past affairs and connections to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
According to ‘The New York Times’, Gates made the $7.88 billion transfer to Melinda’s ‘Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation’ in 2024. The donation was part of a broader $12.5 billion agreement linked to her plans to establish a new charitable foundation.
A Pivotal Philanthropies representative confirmed the deal has been completed, though details about how the remaining funds were distributed remain unclear. The donation appeared in Gates’ 2025 tax filings, marking the first public disclosure of financial specifics from their divorce.
Melinda, who stepped down from ‘The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ in May 2024, previously cited her ex-husband’s controversial friendship with Epstein as a key factor in their separation.
The couple, married in 1994, share three children and officially divorced in 2021. While Gates has admitted to making mistakes in their marriage, he has not publicly confirmed allegations of infidelity.
Images recently released from Epstein’s estate show Gates alongside women with blurred faces and reveal that Epstein displayed a framed photo of Gates at his private island residence. These revelations have renewed scrutiny of Gates’ ties to the late financier, despite his insistence in the past that the friendship was limited.
In interviews, Melinda has spoken openly about the lack of trust in her marriage. Speaking to Stephen Colbert last year, she said, “I learned to have a trusted relationship, which is what I wanted in marriage. Both partners have to be honest with one another. If you can’t, you can’t have intimacy and trust. In the end, I had to go.”
Bill Gates continues to distribute his fortune through philanthropic initiatives. Last year, he announced plans to give away 99% of his wealth over the next two decades, leaving only a small portion for himself and their children. He aims to close the Gates Foundation by 2045, concluding decades of charitable work. Photo by World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland, Wikimedia commons.