NEW YORK — Melinda French Gates will step down as bill co-chair & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nonprofit she and her ex-husband Bill Gates founded and grew into one of the world’s largest philanthropic organizations over the past 20 years.
“This is not a decision I made lightly,” French Gates posted on Platform X on Monday. “I am immensely proud of the foundation Bill and I have built together and the extraordinary work being done to address inequalities around the world.”
She praised the foundation’s CEO, Mark Suzman, and the foundation’s board of directors, which was significantly expanded after the couple announced their divorce in May 2021.
“The time is right to move on to the next chapter in my philanthropy,” French Gates wrote in his statement. She organizes some of her investments and philanthropic donations through her organization, Pivotal Ventures, which is a non-profit organization.
Bill Gates thanked French Gates for her “critical” contributions to the foundations in a statement, saying: “I’m sorry to see her go, but I’m sure she will have a huge impact on her future philanthropic work.”
French Gates will receive $12.5 billion as part of her deal with Gates, who she said would commit to future work centered on women and families.
The Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether these assets would come from the foundation itself. In an emailed statement, the foundation said Suzman announced the decision to employees on Monday.
“After a difficult few years of seeing women’s rights roll back in the U.S. and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory,” Suzman said of French Gates.
Suzman said she knows that many have joined the foundation, in part due to their admiration for its advocacy, especially around gender equality.
“I know how loved Melinda is here,” Suzman wrote.
The Gates Foundation holds $75.2 billion in its endowment as of December 2023 and announced in January that it planned to spend $8.6 billion over the course of its work in 2024.
The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Pivotal Ventures’ news coverage of women in the workforce.
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