Afrigather The Finest Revenge: Melinda French Gates strikes a pose for photographers as she arrives on the annual … [+] White Home Correspondents’ Affiliation Dinner in Washington, Saturday, April 30, 2022.
After her divorce final yr, Melinda French Gates walked away with a minimum of $6.3 billion value of inventory in varied firms that had been transferred to her by ex-husband Invoice Gates. She’s already offered almost 1 / 4 of that quantity.
In line with Forbes’ evaluate of Securities and Trade Fee filings, French Gates has unloaded roughly $1.44 billion value of inventory (earlier than taxes) since December 2021. On the finish of final yr, she offered 3.67 million shares of automotive retailer AutoNation for an estimated $429 million, leaving her with a 4% stake within the firm. Across the similar time, she additionally offered round $468 million value of Canadian Nationwide Railway inventory and $3.6 million value of Coca-Cola FEMSA shares. In her most up-to-date sale, which was reported in July, she offered one other 4.63 million shares of Canadian Nationwide Railway for $538 million. She now owns 2.2% of the railway agency, down from 3.3%.
As of early September 2021, not lengthy after French Gates obtained the share transfers from Invoice Gates, she was value $6.3 billion.
A consultant from Pivotal Ventures, French Gates’ funding and incubation firm, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Forbes about Melinda’s inventory gross sales.
It’s unclear what French Gates will do with the money. The Wall Road Journal reported earlier this yr that she is not committing the vast majority of her wealth to the Gates Basis, the eponymous philanthropy she and Invoice based in 2000, the place she stays a co-chair. It’s potential among the cash goes into Pivotal, which describes itself as doing “high-impact investments, partnerships and advocacy.” This yr, Pivotal participated in a $53 million Sequence B spherical for Ellevest, a woman-focused robo-investor platform, including to its 2019 funding within the firm. The corporate additionally grew to become a restricted associate at enterprise companies Enlarge Capital and Chingona Ventures.
French Gates reaffirmed her dedication to provide away the vast majority of her fortune in her solo Giving Pledge letter, which she up to date late final yr.
“I acknowledge the absurdity of a lot wealth being concentrated within the fingers of 1 individual, and I imagine the one accountable factor to do with a fortune this measurement is give it away—as thoughtfully and impactfully as potential,” she wrote.
Invoice Gates, for his half, can be doubling down on making a gift of his fortune. He transferred almost $6.5 billion value of Canadian Nationwide Railway and farm gear producer Deere & Co. shares to the Gates Basis final month. It’s a part of a recent $20 billion commitment to the muse he introduced in July.
