Bill and Melinda Gates divorce after 27 years of marriage

Bill and Melinda Gates

After 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melinda Gates have announced their divorce, stating that “we no longer think we will grow together as a couple.”

“We have made the decision to end our marriage after much consideration and work on our relationship,” the couple tweeted.

When Melinda joined Bill’s Microsoft firm in the 1980s, they first met.

Bill and Melinda Gates, a billionaire couple with three children, run the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation together.

The organization has invested billions of dollars battling infectious diseases and urging children to get vaccinated.

 The Giving Pledge, which calls on billionaires to commit to giving away the majority of their wealth to good causes, was created by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, an investor.

He made his money through Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, which he co-founded in the 1970s.

The couple announced their divorce on Twitter in a joint statement.

“We have raised three beautiful children and created a foundation that operates all over the world to empower all people to lead good, productive lives,” the statement read.

“We really believe in that mission and will continue to work together at the foundation, but we don’t think we’ll be able to develop as a couple in the next stage of our lives.”

Bill, Melinda said, was writing a list on a whiteboard with the “pros and cons of getting married,” as he is known to be methodical even in matters of the heart.

They married on the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 1994, allegedly hiring all of the local helicopters to keep unwanted visitors from flying in.

Bill, 65, left Microsoft’s board of directors last year to concentrate on his philanthropic works.