Bill and Melinda Gates announce divorce

Bill and Melinda Gates get divorced - 17th May 2021

Bill and Melinda Gates have said that they are getting divorced. They have been married for 27 years.

Bill Gates is famous for starting the company Microsoft in the 1970s. He is now one of the richest people in the world. He is worth $124 billion.

Melinda met Bill when she joined Microsoft in 1987. They sat together at a business dinner in New York. In 1994, the couple married on Lanai island in Hawaii. They have three children.

The billionaire couple run a charity which is called the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation focuses on health, schools and climate change. It has spent billions of dollars on health projects. It has saved lots of children's lives by providing vaccines. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it gave $1.75 billion to research projects on the coronavirus.

Last year, Bill stopped working for Microsoft to focus on his work with the foundation.

The couple also started the Giving Pledge. The Giving Pledge asks very rich people to give their money to charity.

Now, Bill and Melinda may work on separate charity projects. But their foundation's charity work will carry on.