Melinda French Gates can resign from the Gates Foundation in 2 years if she and Bill cannot work together

• Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates have agreed to work as co-chairs of the Gates foundation for 2 years.
• If they cannot continue to work together, Melinda will resign, The New York Times reported.
• The billionaire couple announced their divorce in May 2021.

Melinda French Gates will step down as co-chair of the Gates Foundation in two years if she and Bill cannot work together at the helm.

Melinda and Bill Gates, who announced their divorce in May, will continue to work as co-chairs of the Gates Foundation, overseeing its $50 billion endowment that just got an additional $15 billion from the couple, for the next two years. If the two cannot "continue to work together," Melinda will step down, according to a press release.

"They have agreed that if after two years either one of them decides that they cannot continue to work together, Melinda will resign as co-chair and trustee," Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, said in a message to foundation employees.

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If she steps down, Bill would provide Melinda with "personal resources" for her philanthropic work with the foundation, per Suzman. The New York Times first reported the news on Wednesday.

Bill and Melinda Gates, who married in 1994, have a combined net worth of $130.5 billion. The two did not sign a prenuptial agreement, but Bill has transferred nearly $4 billion worth of shares to Melinda since their divorce announcement.

Following the divorce announcement, The New York Times reported Bill Gates pursued relationships with Microsoft employees while married. An Insider investigation found Gates hosted nude pool parties at his property while dating Melinda.