Newsletter summary
Melinda Gates announced that she would quit and change her name to the Gates Foundation26thseagames$12.5 billion is planned to be used to support charity work for women and families.
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Melinda Gates announces that she will leave the Gates Foundation
Melinda Gates, the ex-wife of Bill Gates, announced on social platform that she would resign as co-chair of the foundation on June 7, marking her formal breakup with the Gates Foundation.
According to Melinda Gates, she will start her own business and plans to use $12.5 billion to support charity work for women and family life. The money will be provided by Gates, not from a donation from the foundation.
Since its establishment in 1994, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has become one of the most powerful donor organizations in the world, dedicated to addressing poverty, global health and inequality. The two men have contributed a total of $59.5 billion, and the foundation has paid a total of $77.6 billion in grants.
With Melinda's departure, the foundation will be renamed the Gates Foundation, and Bill Gates will become the sole chairman. Nevertheless, he will remain committed to the Foundation's work in all strategies to improve the lives of millions of people around the world.
Warren Buffett has donated a total of $39.3 billion to the foundation since 2006. Mark Suzman, the foundation's chief executive, had previously said the foundation planned to spend all its donations within 20 years after the death of Bill and Melinda.
In a statement, Bill Gates thanked Melinda French Gates for her "important contribution" to the foundation and expressed his belief that she will have a great impact on future charity work.
The departure of Melinda Gates has once again raised questions about whether foundation power should be more widely distributed. Lindsay McGoy, a professor of sociology at the University of Essex, says the foundation controls a lot of money, affecting those who lack a "democratic approach" to question the way money is used.
Ratania Mapp, president and chief executive of Rockefeller Charity Advisors, says Melinda Gates has helped consolidate a gender perspective in the foundation's program to ensure that the foundation's program continues after she leaves.
