Bill Gates split with wife Melinda French Gates has left him without a spouse, is nearly poorer by $6 billion worth of stock, and has also lost his position of being the fourth-richest person in the world to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Bill Gates is now the fifth-richest person globally, with at least $129.6 billion to call his own. Bill Gates had given Melinda Gates $850 million worth of shares in Deere & Co.
Only a few days ago, Bill transferred to shares of AutoNation and Canadian National Railway bringing the total to roughly $3 billion. Now the fifth-richest man in the world (better get used to calling him that) transferred nearly $2.4 billion worth of stocks to Melinda on Thursday, in addition to the $3.2 billion worth of stocks transferred in May, when the split was announced. According to SEC filings, Melinda received 3.3 million shares of AutoNation, worth about $392 million. She now holds 8.8% of the Florida-based car retailer. Cascade also transferred 2.8 million shares of farm equipment maker Deere & Co. DE +1% now worth $1 billion and 9,5 million shares of Canadian National Railway Company, worth $1 billion.
If we total all these transfers up, from May till now, the journey from Gates to French Gates has left Melinda with about $6 billion, and we are almost certain there will be more coming. She may have also acquired additional assets from Bill, such as stakes in private companies or real estate for which public disclosure of the transfer is not required.
