Last week, Melinda French Gates officially left the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a $12.5 billion check from Bill Gates, per the terms of their separation. Her departure from the foundation she co-founded in 2000 had been announced in May, and on Friday she published a parting memo thanking all who worked with her during her tenure at the foundation.
The move wasn’t too surprising: In 2021, she and her husband and co-chair, then in the middle of their divorce, agreed that if they found themselves unable to work together, she’d step out and receive resources from her ex-husband to continue her philanthropic work. The following year, Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman, in an interview with STAT, ruled out the possibility that French Gates would leave — and yet he found himself wishing her well on X on her last day on the job.