Bill Gates transfers $850 million in Deere shares to Melinda - bringing the total to $3 billion in stock handovers since their divorce announcement
Bill Gates has given Melinda Gates $850 million worth of shares in Deere & Co, as one of the world's wealthiest couples divides up their fortune.
The transfer of 2.25 million shares in the company, which makes the iconic John Deere tractors, was disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday with the Securities Exchange Commission.
The filing said that Bill received 'no consideration' for the transfer of shares to Melinda, which represented about 7 percent of his total stake in Deere & Co.
Since the couple announced their divorce on May 3, Bill has disclosed stock transfers to Melina worth roughly $3 billion, including shares of AutoNation and Canadian National Railway.
Bill Gates has given Melinda Gates $850 million worth of shares in Deere & Co, as one of the world's wealthiest couples divides up their fortune
Gates still owns a roughly 9% stake in the Illinois-based company, which makes the iconic John Deere Tractors
Bill and Melinda, who are splitting after 27 years of marriage, reportedly have no prenuptial agreement, but reached a separation settlement before making their split public.
With a fortune valued at $144 billion on Monday, Bill is the forth richest man in the world, after Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, according to Bloomberg.
Over the weekend, reports emerged that Bill Gates had inappropriately pursued women who worked for him at Microsoft and his namesake philanthropic foundation while he was married.
The reports from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal detailed Gates' alleged behavior toward women, ranging from a full-blown affair at Microsoft to asking out women who felt uncomfortable with his advances at both institutions.
Scrutiny has also been growing over his close relationship with sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, from whom he allegedly sought marital advice.
Microsoft said it hired a law firm in late 2019 to conduct an investigation after a Microsoft engineer alleged in a letter that she had a sexual relationship with Gates over several years.
Gates' private office spokesperson called it 'an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably.'
Microsoft in March 2020 announced Gates was leaving the board to 'dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities' but would continue to serve as a technology adviser to CEO Satya Nadella and other Microsoft leaders.
Gates' spokesperson said the investigation did not force him off the board and that he had for years planned to spend more time on his philanthropy.
'It is extremely disappointing that there have been so many untruths published about the cause, the circumstances and the timeline of Bill Gates´ divorce,' the spokesperson told the Times.
The divorce petition Melinda filed on May 3, the same day she and Bill publicly announced their split, called the marriage 'irretrievably broken.'
The petition indicated that the couple had reached a 'separation contract' outlining how they planned to divide their estate - which includes properties in five states, a private jet, an astonishing art collection and a fleet of luxury cars.
Melinda did not ask for any spousal support but requested a trial date in April 2022. However, it is likely the divorce will be settled without a trial.
Since the split was announced, Bill has publicly disclosed large transfers of stock worth about $3 billion.
They included a stake in Canadian National Railway valued at $1.55 billion, and $307 million worth of AutoNation shares.
Melinda is also now one of the largest individual shareholders in two Mexican companies, bottler Coca-Cola Femsa SAB and and cable company Grupo Televisa SA.
Bill has already sold off or donated most of his stock in Microsoft, which he co-founded, but still owns at 1.3 percent stake valued at about $25 billion.
His investments in other companies are managed though his investment firm Cascade LLC, which disclosed the transfers to Melinda in regulatory filings.
Federal regulations require investors to disclose significant changes in holdings if they own at least 5 percent of a company.
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