Melinda French Gates
American philanthropist; co-founder and former co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; founder of Pivotal Ventures
| Melinda French Gates
| |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 8 1964 (age 62 years old (as of 2026)
) (Forbes) Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Occupation | Philanthropist; investor |
| Known for | Co-founder and former co-chair of the Gates Foundation; founder of Pivotal Ventures |
| Spouse(s) | Bill Gates (divorced 2021) |
| Children | 3 (Forbes) |
| Education | Duke University (BA; MBA, Fuqua School of Business) |
Melinda French Gates (born 1964) is an American philanthropist. She co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with her then husband, Bill Gates, and was its co-chair until June 2024.[1][2] She founded Pivotal Ventures, a group of organisations that uses philanthropy, investment and advocacy to advance social progress for women and young people.[3] On 20 October 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Melinda French Gates 67th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$34.2 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Microsoft.[4][5] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Melinda French Gates 74th, at US$30.3 billion.[6]
Early life and career
Forbes records that she was born in Dallas, Texas, on 15 August 1964. It says she studied computer science and economics at Duke University and took an MBA there, at the Fuqua School of Business. Forbes notes that she was one of a small number of women at Microsoft when she joined in 1987.[4]
Gates Foundation
On 13 May 2024 the Gates Foundation's chief executive, Mark Suzman, told staff that she was resigning as co-chair and would leave on 7 June. He said she would not take any of the foundation's work with her. The foundation would be renamed the Gates Foundation, with Bill Gates as sole chair. Suzman said she wanted her next chapter to focus on improving the lives of women and families, after years of watching women's rights being rolled back in the US and elsewhere.[1] AP reported that under her agreement with Bill Gates she would receive US$12.5 billion for this work, paid by him personally rather than from the foundation's endowment. It also said the foundation's board had been considerably expanded after the couple announced their divorce in May 2021.[2] Forbes says she held the co-chair role for nearly 24 years and did not give a reason for leaving.[4] AP described the foundation as a major funder of global health, supporting Gavi, the World Health Organization and the Global Fund, and research on child malnutrition, maternal health, polio and malaria.[2]
Pivotal Ventures
Pivotal says it works in the United States and internationally to speed up social progress for women and young people. It invests in funds and early-stage companies, many of them led by women, and supports partners pursuing a bipartisan policy agenda.[3][7] AP noted that she already used Pivotal for some of her investments and gifts before leaving the Gates Foundation.[2] Forbes reports that in 2024 she announced US$1 billion of giving for women's and girls' rights through 2026, and that she aims to close the funding gap for female founders.[4]
Divorce settlement
Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce in May 2021.[2] Forbes has revised its estimate of her divorce settlement over time. It nearly tripled its estimate, to US$29 billion, in October 2024, and now puts the settlement at about US$25 billion.[4]
Political activity
Federal Election Commission records show itemised contributions under her name, with Pivotal or the Gates Foundation as employer. The largest recipient was the Harris Victory Fund. They are summarised below.[8]
Across the 106 non-memo records retrieved for the 2022–2026 cycles, the filtered total is US$1,520,200 (a lower bound). The largest recipient committees, as named in the filings, were HARRIS VICTORY FUND (US$919,600), MAGGIE'S LIST (US$19,000), TAKE BACK THE HOUSE 2024 (US$18,200), BLUE HEN FEDERAL PAC (US$15,000), PURPOSE PAC (US$15,000).[8]
| Cycle | Total (US$, lower bound) | Records | Largest recipient committees (as filed with the FEC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $135,800 | 21 | KANSAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY ($10,000); MURRAY VICTORY FUND 2022 ($10,000); CORTEZ MASTO VICTORY 2022 ($10,000); MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE ($10,000) |
| 2024 | $1,134,400 | 40 | HARRIS VICTORY FUND ($919,600); TAKE BACK THE HOUSE 2024 ($18,200); NEW YORK MAJORITY FUND ($10,000); BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IN DIVERSE GEOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENTS PAC ($10,000) |
| 2026 | $250,000 | 45 | MAGGIE'S LIST ($19,000); OSSOFF VICTORY FUND ($12,000); COMMITTEE FOR A DEMOCRATIC FUTURE ($10,000); BLUE HEN FEDERAL PAC ($10,000) |
Wealth
Forbes gives Microsoft as the source of her wealth.[4]
Wealth history
Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 5 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2022. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list, and, where applicable, the rank and estimate in the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans.[6][4]
| Year | World's Billionaires rank | Net worth (US$ bn) | Forbes 400 rank | Forbes 400 net worth (US$ bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | – | – | 158 | 6.3 |
| 2022 | 411 | 6.2 | 143 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 390 | 6.5 | 66 | 10.3 |
| 2024 | 188 | 11.1 | 34 | 29.0 |
| 2025 | 58 | 30.4 | 33 | 29.0 |
| 2026 | 74 | 30.3 | 30 | 34.6 |
International and political links
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."
Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements)
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Jewish communal charities
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Gulf states
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
China
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Russia
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
India
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Palestinian or Arab causes
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Home government
For her US federal donations, chiefly to the Harris Victory Fund, see Political activity.[8]
Other international links
The Gates Foundation, which she co-chaired until 2024, funds global health bodies including Gavi, the WHO and the Global Fund.[2]
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Gates Foundation, Statement from CEO Mark Suzman about Melinda French Gates Gates Foundation (press release), 13 May 2024, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Associated Press, Melinda French Gates resigns as Gates Foundation co-chair, 3 years after her divorce from Bill Gates AP News, 13 May 2024 (updated 14 May 2024), accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pivotal Ventures, About Pivotal Pivotal Ventures, accessed 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Forbes, Forbes profile record for Melinda French Gates (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/melinda-french-gates/) Forbes, live record, read 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Forbes, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed Forbes, live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Forbes, Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read) Forbes, annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Pivotal Ventures, Pivotal Ventures (home page) Pivotal Ventures, accessed 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 U.S. Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC Schedule A (itemised individual contributions) query, contributor name "GATES, MELINDA"; 2026 cycle shown in link, the 2022, 2024 and 2026 cycles were queried together with the same parameters; top 100 records by amount; compiler filtered records by employer/occupation and name and excluded memo entries U.S. Federal Election Commission, data as filed; queried 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.