Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates Finalize Much Talked About Divorce of the Millennium

The divorce between Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates is now final, ending the 27-year marriage between the co-founders of the influential Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Public filings showed that billions of dollars of shares were transferred into Ms. French Gates's name following the public announcement in May of their plan to divorce. Forbes now estimates Ms. French Gates's net worth at $3.2 billion, though it could be much higher. The magazine estimates Gates's net worth at $131 billion.

The couple's three children are all over 18, so there was no custody arrangement necessary. The court document said that neither party had asked to make a formal name change, though Ms. French Gates has been publicly using her family name together with her married name since they separated.

Meanwhile, both Mr. Gates and Ms. French Gates have insisted that they will continue to work on behalf of the foundation's shared mission in areas including global health, poverty reduction, and gender equality.

Bill Gates had a penchant for partying during Microsoft's early days in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

According to James Wallace, who authored two biographies on Gates, Bill Gates invited pals and dancers from nearby all-nude nightclubs to swim naked at his Laurelhurst bachelor pad overlooking Lake Washington. "Gates himself rounded up the girls and brought them over there," Wallace said. "I don't know if he physically transported them or if he just told them where to show up."

Gates was a regular at private after-parties at big computer expo trade shows such as Comdex and Demo, where he was frequently the featured speaker.

Robert X. Cringely, who at the time published a famous computer gossip column for InfoWorld, Bill Gates was a lightweight when it came down to alcohol consumption.

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