Biography
Melinda French Gates is among the world's most closely watched billionaires from UNITED STATES, with an estimated fortune of $30B. The bulk of Melinda French Gates's wealth comes from Microsoft, closely tied to Microsoft. Melinda French Gates is a prominent American philanthropist, businesswoman, and global advocate for women and girls. She is known for her work in philanthropy, particularly through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which she co-founded with her then-husband, Bill Gates. Her career began at Microsoft, where she worked as a product manager. Over the years, she has dedicated herself to various philanthropic endeavors, focusing on global health, poverty alleviation, and gender equality. Melinda French Gates has been consistently recognized as one of the most powerful women globally, with a net worth of $30.3 billion, and is committed to using her resources to uplift women and girls. Key career milestones include Joined Microsoft (1987); Married Bill Gates (1994); Co-founded Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2000); Founded Pivotal Ventures (2015). This profile documents verified holdings, career milestones, and multi-year net worth history drawn from Forbes rankings, company filings where available, and our editorial methodology. Readers use it to understand how public markets, private company stakes, and major business bets shape one of the largest personal fortunes on record. Wealth estimates move with stock prices, funding rounds, and disclosed transactions—figures on this page are research estimates, not cash balances. We publish year-by-year net worth history when verified data exists, link to primary sources, and update profiles when Forbes Real-Time Billionaires or major filings change the picture materially. For investors and researchers, the most useful reading pairs the headline number with ownership structure, geography, sector exposure, and the multi-year history chart on this page—especially during volatile markets when single-day moves can shift rankings without any operational change at the underlying companies.