Gates pair divorce world’s most expensive

Ag APP

NEW YORK: Bill and Melinda Gates, the influential billionaire couple in charge of the world’s largest private foundation, are divorcing after 27 years of marriage, the pair said Monday in separate announcements on Twitter.

In the divorce filing, the couple stated their marriage is “irretrievably broken.” Bill and Melinda will remain co-chairs of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and they will continue to work together to shape the strategies of the foundation and set the organization’s direction, according to a statement by the couple’s spokesperson. “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,” the statement says. “We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.”

Bill Gates, who in 1975 cofounded Microsoft MSFT -2.1%, is worth $146 billion (Rs224 trillion), according Bloomberg Index, making him the fourth richest person in the world. Forbes, however, puts his worth $130.5 billion

The couple asked the court to divide their assets based on the terms of the separation contract, but details of the contract weren’t disclosed. The filing does not mention a prenup, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have one, since they aren’t obligated to disclose everything on the filing. Due to the sheer size of their fortune, the split will likely be one of the largest divorce settlements in history.

Complicating matters is the fact that Washington, where the Gates family resides, is a community property state. That means all assets acquired by either party during a marriage are considered communal and typically split equally during divorce in the absence of a prenup.

Though in Washington, the parties can agree to divide their assets in a way that is “just and equitable,” which can result in settlements that aren’t necessarily 50/50, Janet George, a divorce attorney at Washington-based law firm McKinley Irvin, told Forbes. Take Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife MacKenzie; Jeff gave MacKenzie one quarter of his Amazon AMZN -2.8% stake in their divorce settlement. If Bill and Melinda did decide to split the fortune equally, Melinda would be worth $65.25 billion (Rs10 trillion), which would be more than MacKenzie Scott, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife, who is worth $59.8 billion (Scott did donate nearly $6 billion of her fortune to charitable entities last year.).

Forbes assembled a list of the largest billionaire disunions on record. In some cases, like the split between Google’s GOOG -2.3% Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, Forbes doesn’t know the size of the settlement because divorce filings were sealed. Following is list showing how much the wife got after the divorce: 1Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott: At least $35 billion; 2. Bill and Sue Gross: $1.3 billion; 3. Harold Hamm and Sue Ann Arnall: $975 million (RsRs1.5 trillion); 4. Steve and Elaine Wynn: $850 million; 5. Roy E. and Patricia Disney: $600 million.

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