Silicon Valley's billionaire ex-wives club: Did MacKenzie Bezos inspire Melinda Gates to step out of her husband's shadow to become a philanthropist fighting gender inequality?

Bill, 65, and Melinda Gates, 56 - worth $130bn - have announced they are divorcing after 27 years of marriage

Split is the largest since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos divorced wife MacKenzie in 2019, with fortune of $150bn

While it is not clear exactly how the Gateses will divide their wealth, it is almost certain that Melinda will walk away a billionaire like MacKenzie, who is now worth some $60billion

Melinda says she will continue with her philanthropic work similar to MacKenzie, who donated $6bn last year

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How Bill Gates spent long weekends at the beach alone with his venture capitalist ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad every year - and even sought her approval to marry Melinda - in a bizarre decades-long arrangement with his wife

Bill Gates, 65, announced on Twitter on Monday that he and his 56-year-old wife Melinda are divorcing

The couple have had a decades-long agreement that Bill could vacation for a long weekend at the beach every year with his venture capitalist ex-girlfriend

Bill dated venture capitalist Ann Winblad, 70, in the 80s but broke up in 1987, the same year he met future wife Melinda

In a 1997 piece in TIME Magazine, Bill said, 'When I was off on my own thinking about marrying Melinda, I called Ann and asked for her approval'

The former lovers kept their vacation tradition alive, with Bill spending a weekend with Ann at her beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina

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Bill hires Warren Buffett's 97-year-old lawyer pal in $130billion split from Melinda: Gates enlists help of 'the broadest thinker he's ever encountered' as it's revealed there's no prenup and 27-year marriage is 'irretrievably broken'

Bill Gates, 65, announced on Twitter on Monday that he and his 56-year-old wife Melinda are divorcing

He has hired Charles T. Munger, a 97-year-old L.A.-based business lawyer and philanthropist

Both of them worked at Berkshire Hathaway; Gates served on the board until May 2020, Munger is a VP there

Munger is not a family lawyer - his expertise is in business, real estate and investing

In the 1950s, he lost all his money to his first wife, Nancy; he recovered to become a billionaire

Melinda described her marriage as 'irretrievably broken' in a divorce petition viewed by DailyMail.com

The petition revealed the couple did not sign a prenuptial agreement when they wed in 1994

Gates was already a billionaire; he founded Microsoft in 1975 and made his first billion in 1987

Since then they amassed a combined net worth of $130billion and raised three children together

Their eldest daughter Jennifer, 25, responded to the news on Instagram and revealed the family has been going through a 'challenging stretch of time'

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