Tech power couple Bill and Melinda Gates are divorcing after 27 years of marriage after she gave him the marching orders.
The duo, who head one of the world's largest philanthropies, jointly tweeted this news at the same time, writing: "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage."
Co-founder of the software giant Microsoft, Bill has an estimated net worth of $130.5 billion (R1.8 trillion), ranking him fourth on Forbes' list of the world's wealthiest people.
They said they'd continue jointly running the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims 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."
They've signed a separation contract and, writes TMZ, Melinda, 56, is not requesting spousal support in her divorce filing, calling the marriage "irretrievably broken".
Bill, 65, has filed a joinder, meaning he supports the dissolution of the marriage.
The couple met at Microsoft, where Melinda worked developing multimedia products for the company.
They married in 1994 in Hawaii. Melinda left Microsoft two years later.
The couple have children Jennifer, 25, Rory, 21, and Phoebe, 18, together. Medical student Jennifer is engaged to a professional Egyptian equestrian, while Phoebe studied ballet and Rory is believed to be studying law.
Over the past two decades the couple have focused on their foundation. In 2008, Bill stepped down as chief software architect at Microsoft to work full-time at the foundation. He stepped down as Microsoft chairman in 2014.
Their foundation issued nearly $55bn in grant payments up to 2019, focusing on addressing the inequities in global health and the US education systems.
The Gates split comes just two years after Amazon laanie Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie divorced.
After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage - the duo tweeted.