Bill and Melinda Gates announce they are ending their marriage

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Bill and Melinda Gates have announced that they are divorcing.

The Microsoft co-founder and his wife, who launched the world’s largest charitable foundation, said they would continue to work together at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In identical tweets, they said they had made the decision to end their marriage of 27 years.

“We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” they said in a statement.

“We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”

Last year, Mr Gates, formerly the world’s richest person, said he was stepping down from Microsoft’s board to focus on philanthropy.

Mr Gates was Microsoft’s CEO until 2000 and since then has gradually scaled back his involvement in the company he started with Paul Allen in 1975.

He transitioned out of a day-to-day role in Microsoft in 2008 and served as chairman of the board until 2014.

Link.

[lordroel]

Bill and Melinda Gates have announced that they are divorcing.

The Microsoft co-founder and his wife, who launched the world’s largest charitable foundation, said they would continue to work together at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In identical tweets, they said they had made the decision to end their marriage of 27 years.

“We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” they said in a statement.

“We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”

Last year, Mr Gates, formerly the world’s richest person, said he was stepping down from Microsoft’s board to focus on philanthropy.

Mr Gates was Microsoft’s CEO until 2000 and since then has gradually scaled back his involvement in the company he started with Paul Allen in 1975.

He transitioned out of a day-to-day role in Microsoft in 2008 and served as chairman of the board until 2014.

Link.

So after Jeff Bezos divorce and now this, one, divorce settlements are not what they used to be if Melinda Gates gets 50 % of Bill fortune.

[Solauren]

Reportedly, they have no pre-nup

[LaCroix]

They do not.

But even if, I feel there is an argument to be made about the validity of a pre-nup after 27 years of marriage (and a 35-ish year relationship, including their dating period). After all, a pre-nup is considered to be a defence against someone marrying someone rich, and then soon-ish divorcing to get after the money. Protecting property against a spouse. This is not the case here. They were married for 27 years, raising multiple children and even before, she was a high-profile manager at Microsoft, responsible for many of the features that are essential to MS itself, and other ventures the company got involved in. After that much of time, is there really a strict line of his and hers, anymore? Was she not involved in the success of the company by her work, and later advice (she was among the best at class) and support to her husband, even after she no longer actively worked there (as did Bill, later on)

If not legal, there is a moral question if a prenup should be upheld in such a situation.

[Solauren]

I believe that's handled district by district, as well as situation by situation.

Two examples I can name I have direct experience in are: My grandmother, and the a potential one between my wife and myself.

When my grandmother remarried, there was a prenuptial agreement, because she owned her house. Her fiance did not.

The only thing of note was that if my grandmother died, the house would transfer to her daughters (my mom and my aunt), but they could not sell the house as long as John (her fiancee/later husband/my cool step-grand-dad) was able to live there and reasonably arrange for the care of the house. My Mother and Aunt would not have the power to remove him except under specific circumstances. They also could not charge him 'property rent', but John would have to pay for the utilities as if he were a tenant. The exact details of this are beyond me memory, as John died 20 years ago, so it never came up.

With my wife and I, our agreement would have protected my house and income. We'd maintain distinct bank accounts, and I'd still handle all the mortgage, bills, etc. (My wife was money paranoid, and was honestly scared she'd turn into a carbon copy of her mother....)
Which we did and agreed to verbally. Which I will admit isn't worth spit.

However, 14 1/2 years later, our circumstances are very changed. My wife and I moved a few years after we married, and we are both on the ownership documents for the house, and have a joint bank account. My wife now handles the finances for her own sake of mind. (My habit of just taking the bill with me to work and paying at the ATM, and not mentioning it, drove her nuts).

Now, I mention my wife and I - because of how Ontario would see things.
Any prenuptial, as far as it concerned the martial property, would be void in our case, because the original property has been sold, and her name is on the purchase and mortgage documents (and land registry, etc.) If we had such an agreement, and we divorced, the most I could hope for would be to argue that since my wife only contributed X% of the total family income, she should only be entitled to that. And odds are, that would not work.

With a property owned by multiple people, both are considered to have joint 100% ownership, unless otherwise specified on the land registry.
It is possible to have that set up differently, but that has to be agreed to at purchase, or altered later on with the assistance of a lawyer.

A lack of pre-nup on the part of the Gates means that we'll likely see a 50/50% split of all assets unless they come to a mutually amicable agreement.

[Raw Shark]

Seems like an amicable split anyway, all the kids are grown and they want to move on from what they've said. I doubt we're going to see two people who aren't angry at each other duking it out in court for a bigger than 50% share of over a hundred billion.

[Solauren]

I wouldn't be surprised to find out all the assets would be held jointly, and they both just had 'salaries' or similar drawn from shared profits.

Those are two very intelligent people. If they are still on good terms, unless they look to remarry, keeping their assets together as a business/financial move would make sense.

[Raw Shark]

Well. Honestly didn't see this coming.

Bill Gates will never be the same

The aura that Gates built over the past two decades may be permanently shattered.
By Theodore Schleifer@teddyschleifer May 18, 2021, 10:55am EDT
Bill Gates is mired in deep scandal, after decades of bolstering his philanthropic image. Indraneel Chowdhury/NurPhoto via Getty Images

For decades, Bill Gates has traveled the globe as near-royalty, knighted by Queen Elizabeth and draped in medals by President Barack Obama. And for the last year, the once pugnacious Microsoft founder has reinvented himself as one of America’s clearest, most humane voices on the Covid-19 pandemic.

It would only take two weeks for Gates to reinvent himself yet again — and not in the way that his past reinventions have gone.

For the first time since the turn of the century, Bill Gates is mired in deep scandal. And what has become clear over the past 48 hours is that Gates will never be the same.

The divorce of Gates and his wife, Melinda, was announced earlier this month but has devolved into a tabloid melodrama featuring secret boardroom investigations, hushed affairs, and the likes of Jeffrey Epstein. Gates was pummeled in a trio of stories over the weekend that detailed his alleged indiscretions, each of which began to shatter the aura that he has cultivated in the 20 years since he took his foot off the clutch at Microsoft.
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That image rehabilitation largely worked. Ever since stepping back from Microsoft, Gates has grown to epitomize what might be considered the “Good Billionaire”: a civic-minded, awkward geek who showed how capitalism’s winnings can be marshaled to make the world a better place through philanthropy. No donor was more important in the world than Bill Gates, who, along with his wife, had grown to symbolize something in short supply in corporate America: role models.

And the polling reflected that: 55 percent of Americans told Recode in a survey this year that they had a positive opinion of him; only 35 percent felt the opposite.

But Gates’s world has now come crashing down with incredible speed.

To recap: Gates has apologized and been dogged for over a year by his connections to Epstein, the convicted sex offender who eventually killed himself in federal custody. But Gates is now accused of having vastly underplayed his ties to the ignominious criminal, according to one report. A second report shows a pattern of Gates acting unprofessionally around women he worked with — and handling a sexual harassment allegation against his money manager in a way that upset Melinda. And in the perhaps most damaging revelation, Gates now admits that he had an affair with an employee at Microsoft back in 2000, which triggered an investigation by the tech giant’s board of directors in 2019, a third report says.

Gates’s team denies many of these allegations. But they are sure to capture some mindshare with the American public, piercing the reputation that Gates has worked so long to cultivate. And there’s little reason to think that the last shoe has dropped in a record-setting divorce proceeding that is trending toward ugly.

Will people look at Bill Gates with the same fondness ever again?

What two weeks ago was merely a marriage that had sadly petered out has spiraled into something nastier. Gates will be shrouded in questions for the foreseeable future about his romantic life — to say nothing about the uncomfortable pecuniary and legal questions about the future of his fortune.

People do recover from scandal, especially in this news and political environment. (Philanthropists like Michael Milken were no angels.) Gates will surely have his own side of the story to tell, and the Gates Foundation will still exist, giving him wide influence over the next few decades. But more than other philanthropists, much of Gates’s soft power came from his seemingly unimpeachable public profile, which will now be more than a little tarred by the worst kind of attention.

Even if this is relegated to a rough news cycle or two in the long sweep of history, the short-term consequences are profound given where we are in that history. Gates should be at the forefront of the humanitarian crisis in India, for instance, speaking out about the massive death tolls. (He’s instead drawn controversy for his support of vaccine patent protections.) Now he is on the defensive, and any next interviewer will understandably want to ask at least in part about his private life, depleting the power of his commentary on public health.

This should be a validating moment for Bill Gates, as much as the last year has been. Instead, he will likely be silent, legalistic, and, more broadly, on the back foot. It couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Bolding mine. So much for the harmonious split.

[Zaune]

I really don't know what else I expected.

[Raw Shark]

I really don't know what else I expected.

At the end of the day I'm maybe a little too idealistic about this stuff, I guess. Maybe I don't come off that way here sometimes, but I see myself as a romantic idealist despite the evidence before my eyes on the regular and it makes me a little sad when that doesn't pan out. I believe in a thing called love, and another thing called maturity, no matter how many times it kicks me in the teeth. Over, and over, and... how do I still have good teeth?

[Batman]

A good dental health care plan?
Or more likely replacements

[Raw Shark]

A good dental health care plan?
Or more likely replacements

So far, no, on either count, though I will admit I become a bit long in the tooth in the not-fun way. Just lucky I guess.

[Xisiqomelir]

It sounds like Melinda was skeeved out by billg’s deep Epstein ties and multiple jailbait flights.

It cannot help that he had annual Ann Winblad vacations even after marriage.

Other reports of misbehaviour have also emerged re: stripper and hooker pool parties in Seattle in the 80s and 90s.

As an M$-hater I am of course delighted by all the above and hope more comes out!

[Broomstick]

I never had any illusion that Gates was a saint.

Being a skeevy creep in private does not prevent Gates being a philanthropist in public. I really wish we'd get away from this urge to divide everyone into either Saints or Sinners.

The man has done some good things as well as some bad things. History will judge which side outweighs the other.

[Solauren]

I have learned something with celebrity marriage/relationship breakdowns: Believe no rumors or reports until it gets to court and is entered as evidence. (Police involvement and arrests lend credibility.)

Because, shockingly, the Tabloids (and most of the Internet) loves to make shit up about people. It's almost like it's It's how they make money.

[Raw Shark]

I have learned something with celebrity marriage/relationship breakdowns: Believe no rumors or reports until it gets to court and is entered as evidence. (Police involvement and arrests lend credibility.)

Because, shockingly, the Tabloids (and most of the Internet) loves to make shit up about people. It's almost like it's It's how they make money.

Evidence or none, Epstein's very name is radioactive. Dude's killing more shit from beyond the grave than Lord Voldemort.

[Solauren]

I have learned something with celebrity marriage/relationship breakdowns: Believe no rumors or reports until it gets to court and is entered as evidence. (Police involvement and arrests lend credibility.)

Because, shockingly, the Tabloids (and most of the Internet) loves to make shit up about people. It's almost like it's It's how they make money.

Evidence or none, Epstein's very name is radioactive. Dude's killing more shit from beyond the grave than Lord Voldemort.

Technically, Lord Voldemort wasn't dead until the end of Book 7, and at that point his body count stopped.
How about 'Dudes killing more shit from beyond the grave then Freddy Kruger"

Also, any claim against someone with an Epstein connection, I'm treating with even more caution. Guilt by association is no different then a witch hunt.

[Ralin]

Also, any claim against someone with an Epstein connection, I'm treating with even more caution. Guilt by association is no different then a witch hunt.

Dunno, when it turns out someone was a (rape) witch and constantly held (rape) parties for other witches guilt by association starts seeming like an increasingly reasonable place to start.

[Solauren]

Do you have any credible proof of any specific individuals being at said parties and being involved with such activities?
That would hold up in a court of law to the point you couldn't get sued for slander and libel?

[Ralin]

Do you have any credible proof of any specific individuals being at said parties and being involved with such activities?
That would hold up in a court of law to the point you couldn't get sued for slander and libel?

So did you not read the article or are you just pretending?

[Broomstick]

Yes, Epstein was vile scum - that does not mean anyone and everyone he ever knew or interacted with also engaged in criminal and/or repulsive activities. I've heard the rumors, I'd like to see some actual proof. Suspicion by association is one thing, guilt is something that should be proven, not rumored.

As for the Gates' marriage and a possible annual weekend - that's between the people involved, which does not include me.

[Ralin]

Yes, Epstein was vile scum - that does not mean anyone and everyone he ever knew or interacted with also engaged in criminal and/or repulsive activities. I've heard the rumors, I'd like to see some actual proof. Suspicion by association is one thing, guilt is something that should be proven, not rumored.

Of course it's not goddamn proof that everyone he ever partied with is a sex monster. Doesn't mean that billionaire people with Epstein connections get more benefit of the doubt instead of less.

[Broomstick]

True.

It would probably be better if the very super rich where given less slack, and the blue-collar workers were given more.

[Raw Shark]

Technically, Lord Voldemort wasn't dead until the end of Book 7, and at that point his body count stopped.

That's fair.

How about 'Dudes killing more shit from beyond the grave then Freddy Kruger"

Perfect!

[Solauren]

Yes, Epstein was vile scum - that does not mean anyone and everyone he ever knew or interacted with also engaged in criminal and/or repulsive activities. I've heard the rumors, I'd like to see some actual proof. Suspicion by association is one thing, guilt is something that should be proven, not rumored.

Of course it's not goddamn proof that everyone he ever partied with is a sex monster. Doesn't mean that billionaire people with Epstein connections get more benefit of the doubt instead of less.

No, they get the same amount.

Let me run it to you another way -

Some of the people I used to play Dungeons and Dragons with, where also into smoking, drinking and drugs. They knew I wasn't into any of them, so beyond the polite offering of a beer when everyone else got one, they never asked or offered.

No one outside of that very limited social circle had anyway of knowing that.

However, if everyone applied your logic of 'Everyone that had a connection with Epstein must be one of his pedophile buddies cause someone said so', then because I have/had associates that were chain smoking alcoholic junkies, I must be a former/current chain smoking, alcoholic junkie.

Oh, and because a few of them got busted Breaking and Entering, I must also be a criminal.

And yet, you have no proof, but the burden is on me, because of a connection, to prove I'm NOT?

Congratulations! You'd make a fine Inquisitor during the Witch hunts.