Bill Gates Donates $7.9 Billion to Melinda French Gates's Foundation

Bill Gates donated nearly $8 billion to the private foundation of his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, according to a tax filing reviewed by The Times’s Theodore Schleifer. The filing shows a $7.88 billion payment in 2024 to Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation as part of the couple’s divorce settlement.

When French Gates announced in May 2024 that she would resign as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she said that "under the terms of my agreement with Bill" she would "have an additional $12.5 billion to commit to my work on behalf of women and families." Pivotal confirmed that the $12.5 billion agreement has been fulfilled and said the nearly $7.9 billion donation was part of that agreement. A Gates spokesperson did not return requests for comment; Pivotal declined to elaborate.

Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, established in late 2022, had about $604 million at the end of 2023 and roughly $7.4 billion in assets a year later after making under $500 million in charitable donations that year. Tax filings for 2025, which will be public later this year, could reveal whether additional funds — about $4.6 billion by one accounting — were directed to the foundation or to other entities such as Pivotal Ventures, which does not file a public tax return.

Key Topics

Business, Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, Pivotal Ventures, Divorce Settlement