Bill Gates worth $130B getting a divorce

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Nick12

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After 27 years he is divorcing his wife Melinda. Jeff Bezos currently worth $200B got a divorce from his wife who got $35B in the divorce settlement.
 
How sad, they seemed supportive and worked well together.
 
Maybe she didn't like the fact that he was giving medical advice.
 
Or a more tasteful way to put it:

Bill and Melinda gates have, as a couple, decided to divorce. Their joint statement, which they have both shared, states "we have made the decision to end our marriage" and they ask for privacy.

They didn't mention how many billions anyone has.
 
Maybe she wanted to have an occasional hamburger. He has been pretty forceful lately in promoting synthetic "meat" products.
 
Aerides said:
Or a more tasteful way to put it:

Bill and Melinda gates have, as a couple, decided to divorce. Their joint statement, which they have both shared, states "we have made the decision to end our marriage" and they ask for privacy.

They didn't mention how many billions anyone has.
Click to expand...

Why do some people who obviously cherish the limelight in good times ask for privacy when things go south?
 
I knew a guy who worked and lived in Seattle in the mid 2000s. He worked as a ticket taker in a movie theatre. He said Bill Gates took his young kids to the matinee on the weekends on a regular basis. He was a workaholic but still took time out to go to the movies.
 
Ronstar said:
Why do some people who obviously cherish the limelight in good times ask for privacy when things go south?
Click to expand...


The "wanting to have it both ways" syndrome... :)
 
I don't view a civilized divorce as a failure.

27 years together, 3 adult children, and now they each have the rest of their lives to do what they want to do.

Regardless of who they are, more power to them.
 
Sign of the times. The Gates couple announced their divorce via Twitter. Bill could be looking for a place to live if Melinda gets the mega hi tech mansion they currently live in.
 
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MichaelB said:
When it comes to personal issues I think we all want privacy.
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In fairness, I have to say I honestly have a lot of sympathy for them. We think of great riches as buying great freedom, but it can actually be the opposite. A few years ago I was visiting an attraction in Iceland and the staff told me about a visit they had recently had from the Gates family.

About a week before they came, a large (7 or 8 people) security detail showed up to make the arrangements. They made a large number of very onerous demands, which were agreed to. Then when the family helicoptered in, they were accompanied by at least a dozen security people who manned all the strategic points the principals would pass through.

Can you imagine living like that? I would hate it, but I certainly understand why it was necessary. I had a good friend who was part of the advance team that set up all Presidential visits in this country, and the way he described the detail they went into was amazing.
 
braumeister said:
In fairness, I have to say I honestly have a lot of sympathy for them. We think of great riches as buying great freedom, but it can actually be the opposite. A few years ago I was visiting an attraction in Iceland and the staff told me about a visit they had recently had from the Gates family.

About a week before they came, a large (7 or 8 people) security detail showed up to make the arrangements. They made a large number of very onerous demands, which were agreed to. Then when the family helicoptered in, they were accompanied by at least a dozen security people who manned all the strategic points the principals would pass through.

Can you imagine living like that? I would hate it, but I certainly understand why it was necessary. I had a good friend who was part of the advance team that set up all Presidential visits in this country, and the way he described the detail they went into was amazing.
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These high level execs have most if not all their daily schedules planned for them. When our CEO toured one of our locations we had an advanced schedule planned to the minute. Meetings, lunches, bathroom time, walk from point A to point B were planned to the minute and the advance team checked out the areas prior to the CEO arriving. And all of the areas were fixed, repainted, etc to prepare for the visit.
 
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I'm really impressed by all the things the Gates Foundation is doing. I hope this continues post-divorce. I have no idea if this was the case, but I felt like Melinda was the steering force behind the foundation I'm not sure if Bill would've had much of an idea what to do with his wealth. Warren Buffet didn't seem to either, which is why most of his fortune has or will be going to the Gates Foundation. Or he just thought it was such a good idea that he bought into it.
 
Wasn't a lot of his stock grants before he got married?

I think he was already considered the richest man in the world at the time.

Also, he did the giving pledge, may have actually started it.

He planned to give most of his wealth to his foundation, got Buffett to pledge the same. Presumably the wife was on board with this all along.

When Windows was a smash hit, at least through the early 90s, he was known for penny-pinching, flying coach, digging for coupons at stores.

Presumably he's not flying commercial any more.
 
I am very sorry to read this. They have always seemed like a good team to me (in their various foundation efforts) but who knows what goes on in a marriage.

Their kids are 18, 21, and 25, so maybe they were waiting until the kids were mostly grown before splitting up?

Something tells me Bill and Melinda will handle this like adults, rather than like the tabloid-trash divorces which abound today in the celebrity world.
 
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Their biggest argument is going to be who takes the house.

Who wants the upkeep, taxes and utilities on 66,000 square feet?

He says, Not Me. She says, Not Me.

No one else has the money to live in such a custom built structure.
 
explanade said:
Wasn't a lot of his stock grants before he got married?

I think he was already considered the richest man in the world at the time.

Also, he did the giving pledge, may have actually started it.

He planned to give most of his wealth to his foundation, got Buffett to pledge the same. Presumably the wife was on board with this all along.
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He was the richest man in the world when they got married, but worth "only" about $9B. They are now worth about $130B. I presume that doesn't include the $47B held by the foundation. I don't know if more is committed.
 
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