Despite their divorce, Bill Gates seems to be keeping to the promise he made on Wednesday, August 4, when he told CNN that he and Melinda French Gates would try to keep working together on their foundation after their divorce.
Bill Gates transferred more than $2 billion in stock to Melinda French Gates on Thursday, August 5, according to Bloomberg.
This takes total transfers from Bill Gates to Melinda French Gates since they announced their divorce in May to about $6 billion.
Cascade Investment, Gates’ investment vehicle, transferred 3.3 million shares, collectively worth $387 million, of the automotive retailer AutoNation to French Gates, an SEC filing showed, according to Bloomberg.
Bill Gates also transferred 2.8 million shares worth a total of $1 billion of the manufacturer Deere & Co. to Melinda French Gates through Cascade Investment, per an SEC filing cited by Bloomberg.
The same day, Cascade Investment transferred 9.5 million shares, valued at more than $1 billion total, of Canadian National Railway to Melinda French Gates.
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates officially divorced last week.
In May, four days after they announced their intention to divorce, Bill Gates transferred $3 billion worth of stock from Cascade Investment to French Gates, including 2.9 million shares of AutoNation, 14.1 million shares of Canadian National Railway, and 293.5 million shares of the media company Grupo Televisa.
Two weeks later, Gates conveyed $850 million worth of Deere & Co. shares to Melinda French Gates, according to an SEC filing – this was 7% of Gates’ stake in the company.
Bill and Melinda Gates’ collective net worth is about $152 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
