Melinda French Gates, a philanthropist and former Microsoft manager, is ranked No. 74 on the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list with a net worth of $30.3 billion. She co-chaired the Gates Foundation from 2000 to 2024.
Melinda Ann French Gates was born Melinda Ann French on August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas, the second of four children of Raymond Joseph French Jr., an aerospace engineer, and Elaine Agnes Amerland, a homemaker. She was the valedictorian of her class at St. Monica Catholic School, and at 14 was introduced to the Apple II by her father and a teacher.
Net Worth and Rank
- Forbes 2026 list: No. 74, with $30.3 billion
- Later estimate: Wikipedia says Forbes put her wealth at $30.4 billion as of February 2026, making her the 72nd wealthiest person in the world
Career
She studied at Duke University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics and an MBA. She joined Microsoft in 1987 as a multimedia product developer and, that same year, began dating the company’s co-founder and chief executive, Bill Gates. They married in 1994 and divorced in 2021, and have three children.
Philanthropy
- 2000–2024: she and Gates co-chaired the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private charitable organisation; after she resigned as co-chair in 2024, it was renamed the Gates Foundation, with Gates as sole chair
- 2015: she founded Pivotal Ventures, an independent organisation working on problems affecting US women and families; it committed $1 billion in 2019 and another $1 billion in 2025
- Divorce settlement: she received $12.5 billion for independent philanthropy, which she has said will focus on women and families
Politics and Writing
She has become a prominent megadonor to the Democratic Party, with a focus on abortion rights, and endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. In 2025 she published a memoir, The Next Day: Transition, Change and Moving Forward.
Recognition
Forbes has consistently ranked her among the world’s most powerful women, and the BBC named her one of its 100 Women of 2021. With Bill Gates she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honour.
Why It Matters
French Gates is one of the best-resourced individual philanthropists in the world, with a focus on women’s advancement and family policy.
Net worth figures change daily with share prices. Rankings here follow the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, with wealth measured on March 1, 2026.
Image: Melinda Gates in conversation at the Chatham House Prize event in London, November 2014. Photo: Chatham House, London / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
