Inside Melinda and Bill Gates’ 27-year marriage: from meeting at Microsoft and fighting poverty together to a billionaires’ divorce

May 4 , 2021

Bill and Melinda Gates’ then and now. The couple announced on May 3, 2021 that they would be divorcing after 27 years of marriage. Photo: @melindafrenchgates, @thisisbillgates/Instagram

Their three kids Jennifer, Phoebe and Rory didn’t have phones until they were 14 and will ‘only’ inherit US$10 million each

A conversation on a beach in Zanzibar led to the start of a foundation now the largest endowment in the world at almost US$50 billion

Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced plans to separate from Melinda, his wife of 27 years, on Monday.

“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” Gates, who was 65 in October 2020, said in a tweet.

“Over the last 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.”

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, leave the Elysee Palace after they received the French Legion of Honour medal, in Paris in April 2017. Photo: EPA-EFE

Bill and Melinda Gates have been married since 1994, raised three kids, are worth US$130.5 billion, and run a namesake philanthropic enterprise boasting a US$49.8 billion endowment.

Here’s a look back at Bill and Melinda Gates’ marriage.

Bill and Melinda first met in 1987, when she joined Microsoft as a product manager

Bill and Melinda Gates. Photo: Getty Images

Melinda described on NPR how he asked her if she could go out “two weeks from tonight” – to which she replied, “Two weeks from tonight? I have no idea what I’m doing two weeks from tonight. And I said, ‘You’re not spontaneous enough for me’.”

Melinda gave Bill her number and told him to call her closer to the day he had in mind