Melinda French Gates talks about what it feels like to be a billionaire

French Gates’ net worth is estimated at $11 billion, according to Forbes. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index calculates his net worth at around $13.5 billion.

French Gates has spent more than 20 years in philanthropy since launching the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was established with her ex-husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, in 2000.

One of the foundation’s top priorities is global health, investing billions of dollars in vaccine development and fighting infectious diseases. The organization reported an endowment of $75.2 billion as of December 2023 on its website.

French Gates stepped down as co-chair at the foundation in June, three years after her divorce from Gates.

In a statement on X in May, French Gates said the terms of her resignation came up with an additional $12.5 billion for her charitable work at the foundation. She said she plans to use the money “to further my work on behalf of women and families.”

French Gates also received about $6 billion worth of stock in the early days of her divorce from Gates, Bloomberg reported.

French Gates also started an independent philanthropic venture in 2015 with Pivotal Ventures, an LLC focused on issues affecting women and families.

“I wanted to be able to use every tool in my toolbox,” French Gates told Vanity Fair. “Some philanthropic dollars, investment dollars — and being able to talk about politics. The LLC gives me a lot of flexibility to do that.”

The philanthropist has long spoken about the task of billionaires to give away their wealth.

“If you’re lucky enough to be a billionaire, believe me, you can give away half of it and not change your life,” French Gates told Gayle King on CBS Mornings in 2022. “We should have a society in that, for whatever reason, wealth is in your hands, you put it back into society so that you can change and lift others up.”

French Gates also told Vanity Fair that some of her personal wealth goes to political campaigns.

She told the magazine that her donations to the Harris-Walz campaign have been “substantial” and that she plans to host an event for the candidates.

A spokesperson for Pivotal Ventures did not immediately respond to a request for comment.