The divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates is set to mint another woman billionaire. Yesterday, Nairametrics reported on the first set of transactions made by Bill Gates to his ex-wife, Melinda.
She was transferred securities worth over $1 billion, already making her a billionaire. With more transfers set to come, we want to look at 5 other women who became billionaires after divorcing their husbands.
5 . Sue Ann Arnall ($1 billion
Sue Ann Arnall was the wife of oil baron and CEO of Continental Resources, Mr Harold Hamm. The 26-year-old marriage ended in 2015 with a handwritten check of a whopping $974 million to Sue Ann, which she initially rejected on the basis that it was too small. After a series of back and forth in court, however, she finally accepted the cheque.
Before the cheque, Harold Hamm had initially paid her over $20 million, driving the total settlement figure over a billion dollars.
Harold Hamm is currently the 247th richest man in the world with a net worth of $8.6 billion.
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4. Sue Gross ( $1.3 billion )
The ex-wife of Bill Gross, the billionaire founder of the investment management firm, PIMCO, walked away from her 32-year-old marriage to the business mogul with a handsome $1.3 billion dollars. She started her own charity afterwards.
Bill Gross is currently worth $1.5 billion according to Forbes. He founded PIMCO in 1971 and it became one of the most successful investment management firms in America.
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3. Elaine Wynn ( $2 billion )
Elaine Wynn is the ex-wife of Steve Wynn and she is a Co-Founder of the successful casino company, Wynn Resorts. After the couple divorced in 2012, she was transferred 11 million shares from the company which was valued at $795 million at the time.
Her ex-husband sold a substantial amount of shares later that year, which she also got a stake in. Today, her total shares from the Wyatt Resorts are worth over $2.3 billion according to Forbes.
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2. Melinda Gates ($1.8 billion and counting)
Melinda Gates is the latest billionaire divorcee on the block and she is already worth $1.8 billion after the first transfer of wealth. Her ex-husband, Bill Gates is the 4th richest man in the world. She will be worth over $60 billion if Bill Gates’ fortune is split evenly with her, although that is very unlikely.
1. Mackenzie Scott ($57.7 billion)
The ex-wife of the richest man in the world tops the list with a staggering $57.7 billion net worth. She met her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos when they both worked at a hedge fund in New York and she helped set up Amazon.
After her divorce from Bezos in 2019, she received 4% of Amazon shares which was valued at $35 billion then. Amazon stocks have witnessed a near 75% increase since then. She is currently worth $57.7 billion according to Forbes.
What you should know
Melinda Gates may top the list after the complete transfer of wealth by her ex-husband, Bill Gates.
