If you want to select "the world's richest man most familiar to Chinese", I guess it must be Microsoft founder Bill Gates .
His entrepreneurial history, growth history, marriage story, charity story... have always been talked about by everyone.
A variety of autobiographies and business books, and it has been on the top of the bestseller list all the year round.
So this morning, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda announced their divorce, and they immediately topped the trending search list.
said in a joint statement that the two believed that continuing to maintain their marriage relationship could not allow each other to continue to improve, so after careful consideration, they decided to end the marriage.
is the "most inspiring" reason for divorce.
The hearts of countless netizens were shocked:
- "He's already Bill Gates! What else should he improve? Is he going to become an immortal?" Of course, when the world's top billionaires get divorced, the gossip that everyone is most concerned about is the issue of property distribution.
Bill Gates, 65 years old, the fourth richest person on earth, with wealth ,841.4 billion.
Change the way of writing and feel it: 841400000000, there are so many 0s.
We just marveled at Zheng Shuang's daily income of 2.08 million a few days ago, which was unimaginable.
But do the math, it will take 1100 years for Zheng Shuang to make as much money as Bill Gates.
probably started from the Song Dynasty, 2.08 million per day, and accumulated to the present.
This is the real rich man.
But the net worth of Gates is almost accumulated after marriage.
So in this divorce, my wife Melinda will have to part with it.How exactly
is divided, they haven't said yet, but it will definitely be very impressive.
Even if it takes only one third, Melinda's wealth will soon catch up with Jack Ma.
I saw many netizens feel bad for Gates today:
- "Gates lost a lot of money this time."
- "There is another woman in the world who has become a rich woman by splitting up her family by divorce.."
- " Why does my wife take so much away? It's not fair!"
I can't agree with this kind of remark.
Narrow and full of prejudice, as if the woman is like a wolf with empty gloves.
Why did Melinda take Gates' property?
Today I'm here to talk to you about her story.
Talk about the woman who has been with Bill Gates for 27 years and has been named "one of the most powerful women in the world" by Forbes.
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In 1987, 23-year-old Melinda graduated from the top prestigious Duke University.
is a super scholar with unlimited future.
She joined Bill Gates' Microsoft and became a marketing manager right away.
That year, Microsoft admitted a total of 10 MBAs, and Melinda was the only girl among them.
Her first meeting with Bill Gates came shortly after joining Microsoft.
That day, the company had a business dinner and Melinda was late.
By the time she arrives, all the tables are full except for one table with two empty chairs.
She sat on one of them.
A few minutes later, Bill Gates arrives and sits in another chair...
The two latecomers chatted for a long time and had a good time.
Years later, Gates recalled that day and said, "She was very beautiful, confident and attractive."
Until a few months later, on a Saturday afternoon, two overtime people met again in the company parking lot.
Gates took the initiative to stop by to say hello to her and made a request for dating on Saturday two weeks later.
Melinda felt a little sudden and strange, so she rejected him face to face:
"Two weeks later? It seems to be too serious, let's talk about it then, there is still such a long time, I don't know two weeks. Are you free later?”
didn’t expect Gates to be very clever this time, and called Melinda an hour later:
“Why don’t you come out tonight, so it won’t be too formal?”
This Once, Melinda accepted Gates' invitation.
They quickly discovered that there were too many similarities in each other.
For example: they all believe that computers will change the world, they love to play puzzles and number games, they both like to read the novel "The Great Gatsby", and they are all very competitive...
The key is that Melinda's IQ is invincible.
The two had an early date, and they beat Gates several times in a row while playing a board game called "Clues" (find out the real culprit based on limited clues).
It wasn't long before the big boss and the small staff started dating in the office.
Melinda didn't want the relationship to interfere with her work, so she put forward a requirement for the two of them to communicate: never talk about work when they are in love, and never mix personal feelings during work.
Then, she spent 7 years, starting from the grass-roots level of Microsoft, and finally promoted to become the general manager in charge of information products.
She did not rely on her boyfriend who was the big boss at all, and was a full-fledged working woman.
So much so that Gates would occasionally complain to her: "I don't even know what you're doing at work?" Ci is married in Hawaii. On the day of
, there were 6 billionaires among the guests present to congratulate.
Gates specially contracted all the cars, helicopters, and 520 hotel rooms in Lanai Island, Hawaii, just to ensure 100% privacy.
Therefore, this wedding is also called "the wedding of the century" by the media of various countries. After
got married, Melinda's life and work didn't change much.
Until the summer of 1995, Melinda suddenly found out she was pregnant while accompanying Bill Gates on a visit to China.
She is very confused.
is too busy with his work, and Gates is too busy.
In the state of husband and wife, if you have a child, you will definitely not be able to take care of it.
After weighing it again and again, on the flight back to to the United States , Melinda told her husband about her decision:
"After giving birth, I will not continue to work."
Gates was shocked after listening to the special .
Because in his heart, his wife has always been an independent woman with strong professionalism. Is she going to give up her job to have a baby? Simply unimaginable!
But the reasons given by Melinda made him completely unable to refute.
"We are lucky enough that we don't need to work at the same time for economic reasons, nor do we need to take turns to allocate working time to take care of and family ."
"But I have thought about it for a long time, you are so busy every day that you don't touch the ground, so do I. If you can't balance work and family at the same time, it is better to concentrate on being a full-time mother."
So, Melinda chose to leave Microsoft and return to the family. In the five years after
, she gave birth to 3 children and devoted all her energy to raising children, and became the public eye" behind Bill Gates Women".
"How to balance career and family? "
This is probably the confusion that every workplace woman has ever had. Before
, we always thought that we were too poor or too incompetent to be able to do both.
But in fact, even the richest man in the world Women, can't solve this problem, and have to make difficult choices.
Maybe , there is no perfect answer at all.
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As a mother, Melinda is also very good. Her children, a Born to be the "son of the richest man", but she doesn't want them to develop a bad habit of being extravagant and wasteful. She only gives them a small amount of pocket money every day, and asks them to do housework at home. They are not allowed to wear luxury goods. A mobile phone...
Under a good family style, the three children also inherited the low-key style of their parents. Although they received an elite education, they have never exposed any scandals to show off their wealth.
For example, the eldest daughter, Stanford University After graduating, her daily outfits are often $15 T-shirts, $20 jeans, and $8 canvas bags.
And Melinda's life goal is never to be a "good wife and good mother" for a left-behind family.
Children When she was a little older, she returned to work.
In 2000, she and her husband founded the "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation".
But this time, the relationship between the two is no longer a boss and an employee, but They are partners who work side by side.
Melinda is a sober and compassionate woman.
When she was 29 years old, she and Gates traveled to Africa and met many extremely poor people on the way.
At that time, she began to discuss with Gates how to use her wealth to help the poor.
She said:
"It's not fair that we have so much wealth and billions of people have so little wealth."
So, doing charity has always been her wish. After
returned to work, Melinda, who devoted herself to philanthropy, began to frequently travel to the poorest and most backward countries on the African continent.
She pays attention to the poor and all their problems: female contraception, the right to education, the spread of infectious diseases, the issue of illegal child marriage, gender discrimination in the workplace...
These sharp and sensitive social issues have seriously affected the lives of countless people. life, but it is too difficult to change, and there is almost no benefit to yourself, so few people are willing to do these things with real heart.
Melinda did it.
And the goal is really to help the poor, not for show.
She persuaded Bill Gates to put a lot of his wealth into charity.
Their foundation stipulates that at least 1.8 billion US dollars should be donated every year, and an average of more than 30 million yuan per day.
Foreign media often say that Melinda is "the most -spending woman in the world". The focus of this sentence
is not "spending money", but "will spend".
We always feel that spending money is too easy.
but it really gives you a huge fortune, you can use it just right and convincingly, it is also a great skill.
In 2006, "stock god" Buffett donated a large amount of stock to their foundation, with a market value of about 31 billion US dollars.
He told reporters he interviewed:
"If there is no Melinda, I will not donate this money."
"Although Gates is extremely smart, it is Melinda who grasps the overall situation."
Melinda used this money to solve the problems of the poor one by one: preventing malaria, eradicating polio, developing cervical cancer vaccines, giving women access to contraception, educating girls...
Last year At the beginning of our epidemic, the Gates Foundation directly provided an emergency grant of US$5 million to China for China's fight against the Wuhan epidemic.
At the same time, the foundation also donated US$100 million for the global fight against the epidemic, Including vaccine development, treatment, diagnosis, etc.
So every time I see someone say that the rich do charity just for the rich to avoid taxes, I feel narrow-minded.
Charity like Bill Gates and his wife has really changed too many people
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Before Yang Lan interviewed Bill Gates and asked him: "The smartest decision in your life is to create Microsoft or to devote to charity? "
Gates replied: ""Neither, but finding the right person to marry."
For quite a long time, Bill Gates was extremely satisfied with Melinda.
Many rich people have said that the most loving couple they have ever seen is Gates and his wife.
On Valentine's Day last year, Bill Gates also posted a back photo of going to the fruit market with Melinda in his arms. The accompanying text wrote: I will never find a better partner than her in my life.
is a pity.
Marriage is often hidden under the surface of an unknown story. The
side is affectionate.
, on the other hand, may have struggled.
Over the years, Gates has had a confidante, a beautiful lover, and a bloody story of being corrected in court by his lover and losing $8 billion.
I always believed that Gates loved Melinda, but maybe he couldn't just love Melinda.
Rich men always find it difficult to stay alone.
In 2019, Melinda said in an interview with the media:
"Our marriage is unbelievably difficult for everyone." Will you keep going?" The reason
can say is: "He is too busy, working more than 16 hours almost every day, and has no time to spend with his family."
And the real story may only be in their own hearts.
Feelings are like shoes, only you know if they fit.
So this divorce was very sudden for us.
But for them, especially Melinda, it might really be over.
It is worth mentioning that Melinda is very different from other rich wives.
She never pretended to be peaceful in order to maintain her marriage, nor did she stand on the moral high ground to condemn or complain.
is just the end of the 27 years of marriage, so accept it calmly.
The key is that she also has the capital to get out of it.
She has brains, skills, and enough social value. She can live well without any man.
Not to mention there is so much money.
Divorce is a fatal disaster for some women.
For other women, it's just the beginning of a new life.
