Melinda French Gates, a left-winger and former wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, announced on Monday that she would step down as co-chair of her and her husband’s eponymous foundation, walking away from a position she has held since 2000.
The foundation has distributed nearly $78 billion in grant payments over almost 25 years, including to many charitable causes such as malaria nets and world hunger—yet critics note that the Foundation is involved in other, perhaps less noble activities, such as promoting abortions.
French Gates’s decision came “after considerable reflection, based on how she wants to spend the next chapter of her philanthropy,” the foundation’s CEO, Mark Suzman, wrote in a statement on Monday.
“Melinda has new ideas about the role she wants to play in improving the lives of women and families in the U.S. and around the world. And, after a difficult few years watching women’s rights rolled back in the U.S. and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory,” Suzman said.
As part of her separation agreement from her former husband Bill Gates, French Gates will receive an additional $12.5 billion for her charitable work.
“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” she said in a statement posted on X. “I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together and of the extraordinary work it is doing to address inequities around the world,” French Gates said.
French Gates plans to leave the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on June 7, and she will share more about her future charitable plans soon.
The organization will be renamed the Gates Foundation, with Bill Gates becoming the sole chair, Suzman said.
“I am sorry to see Melinda leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work,” Bill Gates wrote in a separate statement on Monday, also posted on X.
“Looking ahead, I remain fully committed to the Foundation’s work across all our strategies, and to realizing the opportunities we have to continue improving the lives of millions around the world,” Bill Gates wrote.
I want to thank Melinda for her critical contributions to the Foundation from its very beginning. As a co-founder and co-chair Melinda has been instrumental in shaping our strategies and initiatives, significantly impacting global health and gender equality.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 13, 2024
Looking ahead, I… https://t.co/ZEU4D2q76v
French Gates’s planned departure had been anticipated for several years. Bill Gates and French Gates announced their divorce in May 2021. At that time, they stated they would take a trial period until 2023 to decide if they could continue to work together in leading their extensive charitable foundation.
In July 2021, Suzman announced a contingency plan “to ensure the continuity of the foundation’s work.”
“If after two years either decides they cannot continue to work together as co-chairs, French Gates will resign her position as co-chair and trustee,” Suzman said. Bill Gates would remain in control and would essentially buy French Gates out of the foundation, Suzman said at the time. French Gates would receive “personal resources” from Gates for her own philanthropic work, separate from the foundation’s endowment.
In January 2022, the foundation added four new members to its board of trustees to strengthen its governance following the divorce. It was the first time in the foundation’s two-decade history that outsiders were added to the board. Previously, Bill and Melinda French Gates were the only trustees following the death of Bill Gates Sr. in 2020 and Warren Buffett’s resignation in June 2021 after 15 years on the board.
“I want to reassure you that the millions of people our work serves and the thousands of partners we work alongside can continue to count on the foundation,” said Suzman in a statement on the foundation’s website on Monday afternoon.
“The foundation today is stronger than it has ever been,” he added. “I know we all wish Melinda the best in her next chapter,” Suzman said, noting that French Gates “will not be bringing any of the foundation’s work with her when she leaves.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with an endowment of $75.2 billion, aims to improve health care in developing countries, enhance educational opportunities, and reduce poverty by providing grants and support to various initiatives and organizations globally.
In addition to her work with the foundation, French Gates founded Pivotal Ventures in 2015, a separate charity focusing on removing barriers for minorities and women in the United States. She committed $1 billion to the organization in 2019.
Both the Microsoft cofounder and French Gates have pledged to donate the vast majority of their wealth to the foundation and other philanthropic endeavors. In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in January, Gates said he and partners like Buffett have given about $100 billion to the foundation. With plans to spend $9 billion a year, Gates anticipates giving away all his money in about 20 years.
