Before their separation, no outsider would have believed that the Gates were having relational challenges.
However, an insider close to the family shared that the Gates family is not as impervious to ‘issues’ as they seem. For example, one of the issues that led to the couple’s separation is said to be an affair that Bill had with a Microsoft staffer about 20 years ago.
Did a Taste for Variety Cost Bill Gates His Marriage?
Sources close to the couple agree that the Gates’ separation is the product of multiple underlying factors. However, extramarital affairs seem to be prevalent.
According to a 2021 New York Times report, though not publicized, Bill Gates has always tried to strike up casual relationships with female Microsoft staff members.
Exchanging Wealth, Even During a Disagreement
Irrespective of the crisis that led to Bill and Melinda’s separation, there has been a sizable exchange of wealth since the divorce agreement was signed in 2021.
The transfer of about $3 billion of Deere and Co. shares from Bill Gates’ financial portfolio to Melinda is one of the conditions for the out-of-court settlement of the soured union.
Deere & Co. Made the Wealth Transfer Public
However, the shares transfer was done in multiple tranches. For example, in May 2021, Bill Gates passed on $850 million worth of John Deere shares to Melinda.
Besides Microsoft and Deere & Co., Bill Gates is said to have stakes in quite several for-profit organizations. However, reports suggest that the May 2021 transfer of Deere shares amounted to approximately 7% of Bill Gates’ stake in the company.
Large Portfolio, Public Spectacle
Cascade Investment LLC, which is the legal entity in charge of Bill Gates’ investment portfolios, made the transfer of company shares public.
Unlike similar high-profile divorces, 70-year-old Bill Gates decided to make the proceedings private. However, the processes involved in transferring wealth to his estranged wife, Melinda, had to be made public. Their marriage would have clocked 30 years in 2024.
The Deere Transfer Could Not Be Kept Secret
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Bill Gates’s preferences had to be shelved during the transfer of the Deere and Co. shares.
Bill Gates and Cascade Investment control more than 10 percent of the company’s total stocks. Declaring share transfers publicly in their security filings is standard procedure for high-stakes shareholders.
Cascade Still Holds a Sizable Stake in Deere
The WSJ report also claimed that Bill Gates and Cascade still retained about 9.27 percent of Deere & Co. shares after transferring 2.25 million units of shares.
Interestingly, before Bill Gates transferred the Deere & Co. shares to Melinda, reports show that he had earlier transferred shares in AutoNation Inc., Coca-Cola, a Canadian railroad.
Total Shares Transferred is Over $3B
The shares transferred before the Deere & Co. deal amount to approximately $2.4 billion. Before the 2021 divorce, Forbes estimated that Bill and Melinda Gates were worth $130 billion.
Melinda filed for divorce on May 3, and the papers indicate that the couple has been quite objective about the terms of their union. Reports claim that the duo had a standing separation agreement long before they started considering divorce.
Resolving a Crisis Without Spitting in the Face
The civility terms worked into the divorce filings further support earlier suggestions by the erstwhile couple that they intend to collaborate in the future. The duo’s commitment to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is believed to have inspired that separation clause.
So far, there has been minimal drama trailing the couple’s divorce.
A New Playbook to High-profile Divorce
Randy Kessler, a celebrity lawyer, was reported to have passed a comment of commendation about how the couple arrived at a compromise that involved an out-of-court agreement.
Kessler said, “Mr. and Mrs. Gates and their lawyers have done an exemplary job of resolving their issues privately and professionally and have controlled their own matters instead of leaving it to a judge.”
Hunting an Explainer for the Gates Divorce
Bill Gates’s affair with a Microsoft staff in 2000 had flown under the radar until Melinda’s divorce filing in 2021 went public. Speculators kept bringing up Bill’s infidelity in a bid to nail down an explanation for the couple’s separation.
An anonymous source, however, said of Bill, “He’s not a saint, but there isn’t one thing that created the final split. It goes deeper than that.”
A Memorable 27 Years of Union
Bill and Melinda married on New Year’s Day, 1994, and they had two daughters and a son together during their 27-year marriage.
Some sources close to the family opine that Bill could have treated his wife better but that their separation was probably a product of ideological differences. Each estranged couple has mellowed, and they are no longer the same individuals as they were in 1994.