Bill and Melinda Gates' divorce has quite a few things common with Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott's 2019 split
On Monday, May 3, Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce after being with each other for nearly three decades. The Microsoft founder married Melinda on 1 January 1994, and went on to have three children together. They also founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000.
But it seems their married life has hit the rocks as the former power couple said in a statement, “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable people to lead healthy, productive lives. 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. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”
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According to Forbes, Bill is the world's fourth-richest person with a net worth of $130 billion. As they announced their future plans, speculations began doing the rounds how the pair would settle their assets and if it would have any impact on their Seattle-based foundation, which is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world, with an endowment estimated to be around $50 billion.
Besides, the surprising divorce announcement also drew comparison to another former power couple -- Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott -- who parted ways in recent years. The Amazon founder and his ex-wife settled their divorce in 2019. Earlier, as a couple they also used to do philanthropy, however, after separating legally, MacKenzie married Seattle science teacher Dan Jewett and began doing her own charity work. She reportedly got over $36 billion after divorcing Bezos. But she gave away $5.7 billion to charity in 2020. While Jeff has pledged $10 billion to launch the Bezos Earth Fund.
Beside the staggering wealth at stake, their attorneys are also the same. Ted Billbe, one of the lead lawyers for Bill in his divorce case, also helped MacKenzie during her . Sherri M Anderson, who is on team Melinda, previously worked for Jeff during his divorce from the 51-year-old novelist.
Though the lawyers’ websites did not mention them as partners, they seem to share the same office address in Bellevue, Washington. Billbe’s site states, “We are committed, experienced family lawyers with an established track record of satisfied clients and a solid reputation for providing quality professional advocacy. We handle marital dissolutions and related property division, custody, child support and spousal maintenance matters. We are committed, experienced family lawyers with an established track record of satisfied clients and a solid reputation for providing quality professional advocacy. We handle marital dissolutions and related property division, custody, child support and spousal maintenance matters. We also represent unmarried persons in disputes relating to property, parenting and child support. Since founding the firm in 1997, we have handled over 1,000 family law cases.”
While Anderson’s site says: “The firm’s practice focuses on complex divorce representation in King County with an emphasis on cases involving: Substantial estates, stock options and awards, business and professional practice valuation, international or multi-state assets, real property valuation, separate property tracing, and spousal and child support; Family trusts, partnerships or closely-held family businesses; Trial of divorce cases that cannot be resolved through the settlement/mediation process.”