Melinda Gates Net Worth

What Is Melinda Gates' Net Worth?

Melinda French Gates is an American philanthropist, businesswoman, and former technology executive who has a net worth of $17 billion. That makes her one of the richest women in the world. Melinda Gates is best known for being formerly married to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Bill and Melinda were married from 1994 to 2021.

Melinda Gates is also notable for co-founding the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest and most influential charitable organizations in history. Over two decades, she helped direct more than $80 billion in giving toward global health, poverty alleviation, education, and gender equity initiatives. While initially known to the public as the wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Melinda steadily emerged as a powerful and independent voice in global philanthropy, women's empowerment, and public health. Under her guidance, the Gates Foundation played a central role in combating diseases like malaria, polio, and HIV/AIDS, while also improving vaccine distribution, sanitation access, and maternal health in developing countries.

Before her philanthropic work, Melinda had a successful career at Microsoft, where she managed and helped launch several of the company's consumer software products, including Encarta, Publisher, and Microsoft Bob. After stepping away from the tech world in the mid-1990s to focus on family and philanthropy, she became increasingly involved in high-level global policy efforts. Her influence expanded further after her 2021 divorce from Bill Gates. In 2022, she announced she would eventually donate the bulk of her wealth to a wide range of causes, not just through the Gates Foundation.

In 2024, Melinda stepped down from her role as co-chair of the Gates Foundation, marking a significant turning point in her philanthropic career. Her departure signaled her intent to chart her own course in global giving, with a renewed focus on uplifting women and girls worldwide. Today, she is regarded as one of the most prominent philanthropic figures of the 21st century.

Bill Gates Divorce Settlement

The divorce settlement between Melinda and Bill Gates, finalized in August 2021 after 27 years of marriage, ranks among the largest and most complex asset divisions in history. The couple did not have a prenuptial agreement, and the division of their vast fortune—largely held in stocks, private investments, and philanthropic assets—was reportedly settled through a confidential separation agreement. While the full terms were never made public, regulatory filings and company disclosures have revealed significant asset transfers.

In the months following the divorce, Bill Gates transferred billions of dollars' worth of public company shares to Melinda. These included substantial holdings in companies such as Canadian National Railway, AutoNation, Coca-Cola FEMSA, and Deere & Co. The shares were previously held by Cascade Investment, Gates's private investment firm. Based on the scale of those transfers, it was determined that roughly 9% of Cascade's total public holdings were reassigned to Melinda during this period.

It is assumed that a similar proportion of Cascade's closely held private assets may have been included in the divorce settlement, though those transactions were not publicly disclosed. In October 2024, additional shares in Canadian National Railway and AutoNation were recorded as having been transferred to Melinda for no consideration, further expanding her portfolio.

Although a significant portion of the Gates family fortune had long been earmarked for charitable giving through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda's asset transfers were handled separately from those philanthropic commitments. Following the divorce, she publicly announced her intention to donate the majority of her wealth to a broad array of causes, including women's empowerment and global health, and not exclusively through the Gates Foundation. Her resignation from the foundation in May 2024 formally marked her transition to an independent philanthropic path.

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Early Life

Melinda French Gates was born Melinda Ann French on August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas. She is the second of four children born to Raymond Joseph French Jr., an aerospace engineer, and Elaine Amerland French, a homemaker. Raised in a tight-knit, middle-class Catholic household, Melinda was encouraged to pursue academic excellence from an early age. Her father introduced her to the Apple II computer when she was a teenager, sparking her early interest in technology, computer programming, and educational software.

She attended St. Monica Catholic School before enrolling at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, where she graduated as valedictorian in 1982. Driven by a passion for both technology and economics, she went on to attend Duke University, earning a Bachelor of Science in computer science and economics in 1986. She remained at Duke to pursue her MBA, graduating from the Fuqua School of Business in 1987. While at Duke, she was an active member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority (Beta Rho Chapter). Her academic background set the stage for a groundbreaking career in the male-dominated tech world of the 1980s and 1990s.

Career

Melinda began her career tutoring children in math and computer programming, but her professional breakthrough came when she joined Microsoft in 1987 as a marketing manager. At the time, Microsoft was rapidly expanding its reach into consumer software, and Melinda played a key role in that push. She led the development and marketing of a number of early multimedia and productivity products, including "Encarta," "Cinemania," "Microsoft Money," "Publisher," "Works," and "Word." Her work helped lay the foundation for Microsoft's long-term dominance in the consumer software market.

She was also involved in the early development of "Expedia," which began as an internal project under the Microsoft umbrella. Although Microsoft's version of Expedia did not initially find commercial success, the platform would later evolve into one of the world's most dominant online travel agencies after it was spun off in the late 1990s.

In the early 1990s, Melinda was promoted to General Manager of Information Products, overseeing teams responsible for a wide array of software launches. She remained in that role until 1996, when she chose to leave Microsoft to focus on raising her family and gradually shifted her attention to philanthropy.

Outside of her work at Microsoft, Melinda has remained active in institutional leadership. She served on Duke University's Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2003, has held a seat on the Board of Directors of The Washington Post since 2004, and also served on the board of the now-defunct online pharmacy platform drugstore.com.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

In 2000, Melinda and Bill Gates officially launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which quickly became one of the largest and most influential private philanthropic organizations in the world. Headquartered in Seattle, the foundation focuses on reducing global poverty, improving education in the United States, expanding access to vaccines and healthcare in developing countries, and advancing gender equality.

Over the years, the Gates Foundation has been credited with major global health achievements, including helping to fund efforts to eradicate polio, combat malaria and tuberculosis, and improve sanitation infrastructure in underserved communities. The organization has also played a leading role in funding global vaccine initiatives, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By 2018, it was reported that Bill and Melinda had donated over $36 billion of their personal fortune to the foundation. The foundation's assets have since grown significantly, supported by additional contributions and endowments. Governance was traditionally overseen by three trustees: Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett.

Among the foundation's notable programs is the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, established at the University of Cambridge to support international postgraduate students committed to improving the lives of others. Other U.S.-based initiatives have included large-scale grants to improve public education, teacher performance, and school infrastructure.

In May 2024, Melinda stepped down from her role as co-chair of the foundation, signaling her intention to focus her philanthropic efforts through new, independent ventures outside of the organization she helped build.

(Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Recognition and Accolades

Melinda French Gates has been widely recognized for her philanthropic leadership, global advocacy, and efforts to promote equity and opportunity for underserved populations. Alongside Bill Gates, she received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged in 2002, acknowledging the couple's growing influence in international development and public health. In 2005, they were named Time magazine's Persons of the Year, sharing the honor with Bono of U2 for their work to address poverty and disease in the developing world.

On May 4, 2006, the couple received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation from Spain, recognizing their efforts to improve education, reduce global health disparities, and fund scientific research. Later that year, Melinda was awarded the Insignia of the Order of the Aztec Eagle by the Mexican government—the country's highest honor bestowed upon foreign nationals—for her commitment to health and education in Mexico. Bill received the corresponding Placard of the same order.

In her hometown of Seattle, Melinda's commitment to children's health was commemorated with the dedication of the Melinda French Gates Ambulatory Care Building at Seattle Children's Hospital in 2006. She chaired a successful $300 million fundraising campaign to expand the hospital's facilities, support under-compensated care, and accelerate research initiatives focused on curing pediatric illnesses.

In 2007, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm awarded Melinda an honorary doctorate in medicine. She and Bill received honorary degrees from the University of Cambridge in 2009 and, in 2013, Melinda was honored by her alma mater, Duke University, with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition of her philanthropic leadership.

Since 2011, Melinda has consistently ranked among the top ten on Forbes magazine's list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women, peaking at #3 in 2013. That same year, she was appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and was awarded the UCSF Medal, the highest honor given by the University of California, San Francisco. In 2015, the government of India awarded her and Bill the Padma Bhushan, the nation's third-highest civilian honor.

In 2016, President Barack Obama presented the couple with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for their transformative work in global health and education. The following year, they were honored with the Legion of Honour, France's highest national award, during a ceremony in Paris. Melinda has also been the recipient of the Otto Hahn Peace Medal for her contributions to international peace and justice. In 2017, she was ranked #12 on Richtopia's list of the 200 Most Influential Philanthropists and Social Entrepreneurs Worldwide.

Personal Life

Melinda French Gates married Bill Gates in a private ceremony on the island of Lanai, Hawaii, in 1994. The couple met while both were working at Microsoft and were married for 27 years before announcing their divorce in 2021. They have three children: Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe Gates. Despite their separation, Melinda and Bill have continued to maintain a professional relationship for several years through their shared philanthropic efforts.

Real Estate

During their marriage, Melinda and Bill Gates resided in a sprawling, ultra-modern estate in Medina, Washington, overlooking Lake Washington. The 66,000-square-foot home, often nicknamed "Xanadu 2.0," was designed by the firms Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and Cutler-Anderson Architects. Blending sustainable design with cutting-edge technology, the home features an earth-sheltered structure that integrates into the hillside landscape.

The estate includes a 60-foot swimming pool with an underwater music system, a 2,500-square-foot gym, a domed private library with a rotating bookcase and oculus, a large dining hall, and multiple guest quarters. Smart-home systems allow for customized lighting, music, and climate control in each room. As of 2009, the property's assessed value was $147.5 million, with annual property taxes exceeding $1 million.

Following the divorce, the ownership status of the Medina estate was not publicly disclosed, and Melinda has kept details about her current residence largely private.

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