Bill Gates Donates Nearly $8 Billion to Melinda French Gates’ Foundation

Five years after their highly publicized divorce, American billionaire Bill Gates has donated nearly $8 billion to a philanthropic foundation founded by his former wife, Melinda French Gates.

According to a report by The New York Times, Gates transferred $7.88 billion to Pivotal Philanthropies, the organization established by Melinda French Gates, in 2024.

The donation, disclosed through a recent tax filing, ranks among the largest publicly reported charitable gifts in history. The filing also offers fresh insight into the financial arrangements that followed the couple’s 2021 divorce.

Melinda French Gates formally stepped away from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2024. At the time, she proposed the creation of a new independent charitable entity and requested that Gates contribute $12.5 billion toward the effort.

A representative of Pivotal Philanthropies confirmed to The New York Times that the nearly $8 billion donation formed part of that broader financial agreement.

Melinda launched Pivotal Philanthropies in 2022, one year after the divorce. By the end of 2023, the foundation reportedly held $604 million in cash assets.

Bill and Melinda Gates announced their separation in 2021 after 27 years together. The divorce has since been described as one of the most expensive settlements on record, with Melinda reportedly receiving assets valued at nearly $76 billion.

In the months following the divorce announcement, past controversies involving Gates resurfaced publicly. Reports revealed that Microsoft’s board had previously investigated allegations of an inappropriate relationship between Gates and a company employee, following a letter submitted to the board in 2019.

While the board reportedly found the relationship to be inappropriate, Gates resigned from Microsoft’s board in March 2020 before the investigation concluded.

Additional media reports later alleged that Gates had made advances toward employees at both Microsoft and the foundation he co-founded, claims that further intensified public scrutiny at the time.

Separately, Gates’ past association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein also drew attention. Media reports stated that Gates had met Epstein in 2011 and maintained contact for several years. The relationship became public in 2019, months after Epstein died in custody while awaiting trial on federal charges.

Gates has since acknowledged the meetings and described them as a mistake.

Despite the controversies, the recent donation underscores the scale of the financial separation between the former couple and highlights Melinda French Gates’ continued focus on independent philanthropy.