Bill and Melinda Gates’ Kids To Get ‘Only’ $10 Million Each After Divorce

“I definitely think leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them,” said the billionaire Microsoft founder.

Bill and Melinda Gates’ children will still inherit a small fraction of the couple’s roughly $146 billion fortune—”only” $10 million each—despite their parents’ imminent divorce. 

Fox Business recounted multiple instances in which the billionaire Microsoft mogul stated he will not leave his three children anything close to the bulk of his wealth. 

When the host of a 2014 TED Talk noted that Gates could quite easily make a trio of billionaire heirs, Gates shot back: “They won’t have anything like that. They need to have a sense that their own work is meaningful and important.”

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In a 2011 interview with The Daily Mail, Gates indirectly responded to his reported plan to leave each child “only” $10 million, saying that they’ll receive a “miniscule portion” of his massive fortune. 

He also responded to the $10 million figure on Reddit, citing Warren Buffett’s pledge to donate 99 percent of his wealth over his lifetime as inspiration. 

“I definitely think leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them,” Gates said. “Warren Buffett was part of an article in Fortune talking about this in 1986 before I met him and it made me think about it and decide he was right.”

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“Some people disagree with this but Melinda and I feel good about it.”

News of the Gates’ breakup recently began circulating, with reports indicating that they’d never signed a prenuptial agreement. However, divorce attorney Vicky Poumpouridis told Fox Business that their kids’ inheritance likely won’t be affected.