Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce sends shockwaves through China

Bill Gates enjoys a celebrity following in China – and after hearing of his split from wife Melinda, the Chinese are freaking out.

The divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates has caused alarm in China, where the Microsoft co-founder enjoys a celebrity-like status not seen with other Western entrepreneurs.

On China’s Twitter-like platform called Weibo, the ‘Bill Gates’ divorce’ hashtag has generated more than 830 million views and 66,000 discussion posts, reported CNN.

It’s smashed through the 91 million views that were racked up when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie Scott announced their divorce in 2019.

Users on Weibo were worried about how the billionaire’s fortune would be divided between the former couple and whether the break-up would affect Microsoft or the Gates’ charitable organisation.

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda did not sign a prenuptial agreement to divide their fortune, which includes properties in five states, a private jet, an art collection and a fleet of luxury cars.

One Weibo user wrote: “You and Melinda have made huge contributions to people around the world. Even if you don’t hold hands together in future life, I hope your foundation can still continue and help more people,” in a response to a post on Bill Gates’ official Weibo account that announced the divorce in Chinese.

The Microsoft co-founder boasts a huge audience on Weibo with more than 4.1 million followers, hugely surpassing Tesla CEO Elon Musk who has 1.7 million and Apple boss Tim Cook, who has 1.4 million.

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Bill Gates has a huge follower on Chinese social media platform Weibo. Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/AFP

The divorce announcement even shook some distraught Chinese users belief in marriage, after the pair revealed they were splitting after 27 years.

“Even you are divorced,” one person wrote, responding to Bill Gates on Weibo. “How can the rest of us have hope of entering a marriage?”

The former couple met at Microsoft in 1987 after Melinda started working there as a product manager, hitting it off when they sat next to each other at a work dinner.

The two married in Hawaii in 1994, seven years after meeting. He was 38 at the time and she was 29, and the couple went on to have three children together: Jennifer, 25, Rory, 21, and Phoebe, 18.

Mr Gates, 65, is the fourth richest person in the world, and is estimated to be worth $US130.5 billion ($A168 billion), according to Forbes, after he became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire when Microsoft went public in 1986.

Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s Index values Mr Gate’s fortune even higher at $US145.8 ($A187.9 billion).

Forbes reports that Mr Gates owns just over 1 per cent of shares in Microsoft, which are reportedly worth more than $US26 billion ($A33.6 billion).

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The couple, pictured here back in 1998, were married for 27 years. Picture: Jeff Christensen/Getty Images

Bill’s relationship with China

The billionaire has visited China more than a dozen time since the 1990s and was even welcomed by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin in March 1994, just before China officially gained access to the internet.

The trip helped Microsoft accelerate its expansion into the Chinese market, where Mr Gates promised to aid the country in building its software technology, thus giving his company enviable access.

Microsoft products have managed to avoid blocks enforced by the Chinese government that have stopped businesses such as Facebook and Google, with LinkedIn and the Bing search engine, both owned by the tech giant, still accessible in China. Its products also have a considerable presence in the country.

Its Microsoft Research Lab Asia, which is based in Beijing, also boasts a number of Chinese tech talents it has helped to cultivate including Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming, Alibaba tech chief Wang Jian and former Baidu president Zhang Yaqin.

One prominent Chinese tech figure Kai-fu Lee, the former head of Google China who helped establish its research lab, joined the conversation on Weibo and said it was hard for him to believe the news.

Bill and Melinda are “the most affectionate couple I’ve seen among celebrity entrepreneurs,” he wrote in a post.

Mr Gates hosted a former Chinese president for dinner at his home in Washington, while the current Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote him to thank him for his support in fighting COVID-19 last year.

The announcement from one of the world’s wealthiest couples was made on Twitter. Picture: John Lamparski/Getty Images North America/AFP

The couple’s philanthropy

The former couple’s charitable organisation the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which was set up in 2000, has spent $US53.8 billion ($A69 billion) on philanthropic projects since starting.

When announcing the divorce, the pair said they will continue to work together on the foundation, which aims to improve global health, combat climate change, bolster US education, and create equal opportunities for people around the world.

Last year, the foundation pledged $US1.75 billion ($A2.25 billion) over two years to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since January 2021, the couple have given over $US29 billion ($A37 billion) to philanthropic causes, according to Forbes, while the foundation has a trust endowment of almost $US50 billion ($A64 billion).

Daughter’s response to news

Jennifer Gates, the eldest daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates, has described her parents’ divorce as a “challenging stretch of time” after their shock announcement on Tuesday.

She took to Instagram to share how she is dealing with the divorce news and to request privacy as they “navigate the next phases of our lives”.

“I’m still learning how to best support my own process and emotions as well as my family members at this time and am grateful for the space to do so,” she said on an Instagram story.