Bill Gates divorcing wife Melinda Gates after 27 years of marriage

Billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda have announced they’re getting divorced after 27 years of marriage.

“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” the pair said in a joint statement today.

“Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives.

“We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.

“We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”

Bill and Melinda got married on New Year’s Day in 1994, in a private ceremony in Hawaii. They have three children together, named Jennifer, Phoebe and Rory.

In 2000, they launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with ambitious goals that included the reduction of extreme poverty around the world. The pair are co-chairs and trustees of the foundation, which has more than $US50 billion in assets.

RELATED: Bill Gates addresses bizarre conspiracy theories
 

The couple met in 1987, when Mrs Gates - then known as Melinda French - was a product manager at Microsoft.

In a Netflix documentary series a couple of years ago, Mrs Gates shared an amusing anecdote from about year into their relationship, when she walked in on Mr Gates as he was drawing up a list of the “pros and cons” of getting married.

“He had to make a decision,” she said, bursting into laughter.

At first, the pair revealed, their relationship was a casual one.

“She had other boyfriends, and I had Microsoft,” said Mr Gates.

“We were like, ‘Hey we are not really serious about each other, are we? We are not going to demand each other’s time.’”

“I was new to Microsoft, there were a lot of men there, and you are still looking around,” Mrs Gates added.

After a year though, to their own surprise, they decided they loved each other.

When they finally got married in 1994, Mr Gates was 38 and she was 29.

More to come.