Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has made an $8 billion payment to a foundation led by his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, as part of the settlement from their 2021 divorce.
According to a tax filing obtained by The New York Times, Gates donated $7.88 billion in 2024 to Melinda’s organization, Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation. This is believed to be the first specific financial detail revealed from their divorce agreement and ranks among the largest public charitable donations ever recorded.
The payment fulfills a larger $12.5 billion pledge Gates made to Melinda after she left the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2024. A spokesperson for Pivotal confirmed the agreement has now been fully satisfied.
The couple’s divorce, which ended their 27-year marriage, was one of the most expensive in history, with Melinda reportedly receiving around $76 billion in assets. Shortly after the split, it was reported that Gates had engaged in an affair with a Microsoft employee in the early 2000s, which the company’s board deemed “inappropriate.”
Further reports later emerged claiming Gates had a "close" relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with whom he reportedly met several times starting in 2011. Gates stepped down from Microsoft's board in 2020 amid an internal investigation into his past conduct.
Melinda founded Pivotal Philanthropies in 2022, the year after their divorce. The recent multi-billion-dollar contribution dramatically scales its capacity, signaling her continued evolution as an independent philanthropic force following the dissolution of one of the world’s most prominent charitable partnerships.
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