Bill and Melinda Gates’ shocking $ 124 billion divorce

There is no second round for Bill and Melinda Gates. On May 4, the world’s most powerful couple revealed they are going to divorce after 27 years. “We no longer believe that we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our life.The 65-year-old Microsoft co-founder said in a statement posted to Twitter.

Court documents obtained by the American magazine People show that Melinda was the one who filed for the divorce and said in the petition that her marriage was “hopelessly broken“. On the day of your divorce announcement, tech billionaire transferred it over $ 3 billion in shares to his now ex-wife.

According to Forbes, Gates is the fourth richest person in the world (the magazine estimates an estimate of less than $ 130 billion), just behind Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Bernard Arnault and his family (LVMH) and Elon musk (You’re here). Melinda and Bill Gates run one of the largest philanthropic organizations on the planet. With his foundation, he has donated more than $ 50 billion to support healthcare, education, gender equality and efforts to fight climate change.

While it is not clear whether they signed a prenuptial agreement before they got married in 1994, court documents show Bill and Melinda, 56, have a separation agreement in place, which the US press says describes how their huge will be divided. billion in fortune. In addition to stocks, trusts and sports cars, philanthropists have an impressive portfolio of real estate worth nearly $ 170 million, as well as an extensive collection of art, worth of $ 130 million, including priceless pieces such as “The Leicester Codex”, A compilation of texts and drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and collected between 1508 and 1510.

“The notebook is one of the 32 Leonardo da Vinci diaries that still stand,” Gates wrote on his blog last year. “And the only one that isn’t in a European museum.”

Gates was named in 1985 one of the 50 most coveted singles in the world. However, a few months after the publication of this list, the founder of Microsoft got to know Melinda Ann French whom he married on New Years Day in Hawaii in 1994, when she took the last name of her famous husband. . Their separation will directly affect his multi-million dollar estate, but not the businessman’s real estate gem.

Just the same year the mogul said “yes, I want” the big renovation of his main mansion in Medina, Washington concluded. Gates bought land in 1988 where he wanted to build his gigantic house, a tech mega-mansion he invested $ 63 million in and is currently valued at between $ 130 million and $ 150 million.

It’s so impressive that it even has its own name, Xanadú 2.0, and it even has a Wikipedia page. It is a house created to the taste of the entrepreneur from start to finish. It is 6,200 square meters and half a million 500-year-old wooden planks were used in its construction. In total, 300 workers worked in construction, 100 of whom were electricians, so the mansion was also a center of technology.

At such a level is the use of technology in each guest can change the art on their walls with a device given to them upon entering the house. With it you can also calibrate the temperature of the environments in which they are located.

The mansion is ultra-protected around its entire perimeter thanks to the high vegetation and of course, the cutting-edge technology deployed throughout the house, which not only makes life easier for its guests, but also wields its ubiquitous power to transform the house. into an unbreakable bunker. It took the couple seven years to leave her the way they dreamed of her.

The mogul, his wife and their three children – Jennifer Katharine (25), Rory John (21) and Phoebe Adele (18) – have lived comfortably in a truly luxury resort for 27 years.

The property has 7 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, a cinema room for 20 people, a living room that can accommodate 200 people, a library (which houses the Leonardo DaVinci manuscript) with a domed ceiling, a swimming pool with music system underwater, a gym, a dining room of over 90 square meters and a garage for 23 cars.

The most important feature of the house is that the entrance to the house is through an underground tunnel, as the mansion is buried in the earth to regulate the temperature in a sustainable way. Gates was obsessed with being an eco-efficient place.

No one knows if the couple has already divided their property and under what conditions one of the most successful marriages will end. And a question flies above: who will get Xanadu 2.0?

In April 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, Bill and Melinda Gates continued to manage their various projects and add new additions to their already astronomical real estate assets. So they decided to buy the most expensive mansion in San Diego, Calif., for just over $ 43 million. It is a spectacular summer house in the exclusive Del Mar urbanization, the work of architect Ken Ronchetti and was completed in 1999.

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