Bill and Melinda Gates to divorce after 27 years
Bill and Melinda Gates include announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage, saying "we no more believe we are able to grow together as a good couple".
"After significant amounts of thought and lots of focus on our relationship, we've manufactured the decision to end our marriage," the pair tweeted.
They first met in the 1980s when Melinda joined Bill's Microsoft firm.
The billionaire couple possess three children and jointly run the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The organisation has spent billions fighting causes such as for example infectious diseases and encouraging vaccinations in children.
The Gates - along with investor Warren Buffett - are behind the Presenting Pledge, which calls on billionaires to commit to giving away nearly all their wealth to good causes.
Bill Gates may be the fourth wealthiest person on the globe, according to Forbes, and will probably be worth $124bn (£89bn).
He made his money through the firm he co-founded in the 1970s, Microsoft, the world's biggest software company.
The pair both posted the statement announcing their divorce on Twitter.
"During the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and made a good foundation that works across the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives," it read.
"We continue to share a belief for the reason that mission and can continue our interact at the building blocks, but we no more believe we are able to grow together as a couple within the next phase of our lives.
"We require space and privacy for us as we get started to navigate this new lease of life."
Melinda, nowadays 56, joined Microsoft as something manager found in 1987, and the two sat together in a business dinner that year found in New York.
They started dating, but as Bill told a Netflix documentary: "We cared a lot for the other person and there have been only two possibilities: either, we were likely to split up or we were likely to get married."
Melinda said she found Bill - methodical it appears even in matters of the heart - posting a list on a whiteboard with the "pros and the cons to getting married".
They got married in 1994 on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, reportedly hiring up all the local helicopters to stop unwanted guests flying over.
Bill, 65, stepped down from Microsoft's board this past year to give attention to his philanthropic activities.
