Photo: MARTIN BUREAU / AFP / Getty Images
Bill Gates last week transferred shares worth $ 850 million dollars to Melinda French in the middle of her divorce , according to a record on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Thursday the Microsoft co-founder transferred 2. millions shares of the equipment manufacturer to French Gates through its investment company, Cascade Investment . The transfer from Deere equates to about 7% of Gates’ stake in the company.
Gates and Cascade Investment continue to own nearly 29. 3 million shares, equivalent to 9.3% of the company, after the transfer to French Gates was made.
The total value of transfers that were publicly disclosed to French Gates since she and Gates announced their separation on May 3 adds up to almost $ 4, 04 millions of dollars.
Following the announcement of the couple’s divorce, shares were transferred to French in other businesses that have a combined value of $ 3, 000 million dollars: 2.9 million shares of auto retailer AutoNat ion, 19. 1 million shares of Canadian National Railway and 300. 5 million shares of the media company Grupo Televisa .
Specialists have mentioned that other shares that French could receive from Cascade Investment are shares of Republic Services and Ecolab.
Stakes in Cascade represent approximately one-third of the couple’s net worth which according to Forbes estimates at about $ 130, 000 millions of dollars .
Related: What can we learn from the coronavirus pandemic according to Bill Gates
Bill Gates met Melinda inside Microsoft where she went to work at 1987 as a product manager. The couple has three children.
The news of the transfer of the shares came two days after The New York Times newspaper revealed that Gates had harassed several women who work for him within Microsoft and at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation after marrying French in 1994.
According to the company, an employee had said to Microsoft’s board of directors that had had a sexual relationship with the founder of the company . According to a letter from 2019, the engineer gave details of her relationship with Bill Gates and requested that the letter be read by Melinda . After an investigation the company’s board of directors agreed with Gates that he should resign from the position of director.
After 27 Years of marriage Bill and Melinda have decided that they will continue to work together on issues such as education, gender equality and health care.
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