Melinda French Gates is having second thoughts about her divorce fortune.
It was expected that almost all her 11.4 billion alimony payment would go into the joint philanthropy endeavor with her former partner Bill Gates – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Even so, Melinda will cut down her support to the world’s second-largest philanthropy organizations, and instead, she will dole out to other charities.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Melinda remains a staunch signatory of The Giving Pledge and will continue to give her wealth to other charities. In 2015, she had launched Pivotal Ventures, a charity under the umbrella of Bill and Melinda Gates, that sought to work toward gender parity and accordingly, promised about $1 billion in a decade.
“Along the way, I cofounded the Giving Pledge in 2010 and committed to giving away the majority of my resources in my lifetime. Today, I’m reaffirming that commitment,” French Gates wrote in a letter. “In the last two decades, I’ve seen that, at its best, philanthropy plays a unique role in driving progress by taking investment risks that others can’t or won’t to explore new ways of solving old problems.”
After separation, Bill and Melinda had resolved to co-run their philanthropy for two years while they work on a resolution. Melinda will now work with other stakeholders in pursuit of her causes.
The Microsoft co-founder and Melinda announced the news of their divorce after 27 years of marriage in early 2021 and finalized the divorce in August 2021. They have three older children, 22-year-old son Rory, and daughters Jennifer, 25, and Phoebe, 18.
READ: Former Power Couple Bill And Melinda Gates Officially Divorced
