Melinda French Gates resigns as co-chair from the Gates Foundation
NPR Online NewsMay 22
Melinda Gates to Step Down as Gates Foundation Co-Chair
The Facts
Melinda French Gates announced Monday she is resigning as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a nonprofit organization she and her ex-husband Bill Gates founded in 2000.
The nonprofit will reportedly change its name to the Gates Foundation, while French Gates will receive $12.5B as part of her agreement with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
The Spin
Narrative A
Bill Gates is a huge name in the tech world, but the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation underwent a transformative period under Melinda's leadership. It played a pivotal role in empowering women and girls, eradicating infectious diseases, and reducing poverty, and became one of the world’s largest private charitable organizations. With the end of one of the world's leading philanthropic partnerships, the nonprofit will likely fall apart.
Narrative B
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a professional institution, one of the most potent groups in public health — not a family organization that will collapse because its chairman's marriage fell apart. The foundation's work will continue past Melinda's departure, as its corporate governance mechanism is more robust today than ever. The millions of lives the foundation touches worldwide can continue to count on Bill Gates.
