Bill Gates and Melinda Gates are separating after 27 years of marriage

The two have not, however, shared any other personal details about the decision. (File image: Rueters)

Bill Gates and Melinda Gates: Microsoft founder Bill Gates and wife Melinda Gates have decided to end their marriage after 27 years. In a joint statement released in the early hours of Tuesday, the two said that they had given a lot of thought and put in a lot of work into their relationship before making this decision. The couple said that while they were together, they raised three children, and built a foundation – the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation has been working in the areas of healthcare and poverty since 2000, and is being run jointly by the two.

Bill and Melinda, in their statement, reiterated that while they believed that they could “no longer grow together as a couple”, they have a continued shared belief in the mission and would continue to work together at the foundation, which has an endowment of about $50 billion and is among the largest charitable organisations in the world. This indicates that the separation would not affect the working of the foundation, of which both Bill and Melinda are Founders, even as Mark Suzman leads the foundation as CEO.

The two have not, however, shared any other personal details about the decision, including what drove them to decide to go their separate ways. Instead, they asked for space and privacy for the members of the family as they try to figure out how to proceed from here.

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— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 3, 2021

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— Melinda French Gates (@melindagates) May 3, 2021

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Bill and Melinda had met at Microsoft in 1987 after she joined the firm, and the two had decided to get married in 1994. The tech mogul stepped down from his position as the CEO of the company in 2000, and then as a full-time employee in 2008 to focus better on the working of the foundation, before also stepping down as a member of the company’s board, only retaining the title of “Founder and Technology Advisor”.