Melinda French Gates has announced that she is quitting the Gates Foundation, a philanthropic organsation she built over 20 years with her ex-husband, Bill gate and would receive an additional $12.5 billion for her charitable work.
Melinda said that she was leaving as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that she has helped lead since 2000 adding that her next plan is to focus her giving on groups dealing with women and families.
She stated, “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.
According to her, she would the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on June 7, after which she intends to share more about her future charitable plans in the near future.
“Under the terms of my agreement with Bill, in leaving the foundation, I will have an additional $12.5 billion to commit to my work on behalf of women and families,” she said in a post Monday on LinkedIn. “I’ll be sharing more about what that will look like in the near future,” she stated.
“This is a critical moment for women and girls in the US and around the world — and those fighting to protect and advance equality are in urgent need of support,” she said.
The organisation will change its name to the Gates Foundation, and Bill Gates will become the sole chair, the foundation’s Chief Executive, Mark Suzman, has announced.
