Kadensa Capital Limited information, Kadensa Capital Limited said that if you don’t know who Melinda Ann French is, this is normal. What about Melinda Gates? This is the same person.
According to CNN, following the release of the divorce statement in May, on Monday local time, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates formally completed the divorce procedures.
Husband and wife in 2006. Image source: New York Times
According to court documents, neither of them will pay spousal support. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of Monday, Gates’ net worth is approximately US$152 billion, which means that after the divorce, his and Melinda’s respective worth may be approximately US$76 billion.
In addition, another detail is quite interesting. Melinda Gates does not plan to change her name after the divorce, you know, her original name is Melinda Ann Franchi.
In 1994, Melinda Ann Frank married Bill Gates. According to traditional customs, the woman was given her husband’s surname. She changed her name to Melinda French Gates (Melinda French Gates). Referred to as Melinda Gates.
Since then, no one in the world knows Melinda Ann Frankie, but no one knows Melinda Gates.
Do not change your name after divorce, for love or for money?
Compared to Melinda, another American lady was much more refreshed and asked to change her name back to her original name MacKenzie Scott (MacKenzie Scott) upon divorce.
Before the divorce, Mackenzie followed his husband's surname, named Mackenzie Bezos (Mackenzie Bezos). Come to think of it, MacKenzie is the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.
Remember the most expensive divorce case in the world in 2019? After the Bezos officially divorced in 2019, Mackenzie became the third richest woman in the world that year. As of December 2020, her net worth has reached 62 billion US dollars.
According to this calculation, Melinda's net assets have surpassed Mackenzie. Then why does Melinda insist on the last name "Gates"?
According to CNN, after the divorce, the two will continue to jointly run their charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This foundation is one of the largest charitable organizations in the world. As of the end of 2020, the foundation has donated about 50 billion U.S. dollars. The foundation said last month that they are planning a two-year trial period to see if Gates and Melinda can continue to work together effectively after the divorce.
CEO Mark Suzman said: "If they decide not to continue as co-chair after two years, Melinda Gates will resign as co-chair and trustee."
Once this happens, Gates will continue to maintain control and buy the Foundation from Melinda. And Melinda's own personal resources in the philanthropy field will be independent, completely separate from the foundation's donations.
Although Melinda has been deeply involved in the field of charity for many years, she has always been Gates's wife, Melinda Gates. Once there is no blessing of the "Gates" surname, Melinda Ann Frankie can use the personal resources, I am afraid she herself knows well.
Last name is also an important asset
What is the value of the surname at the time of divorce? If it's Gates, that's a lot! Greg Bodron, an associate professor at the University of Maine School of Law, once said so on Bloomberg.
Professor Bodron found that the value of a surname can be compared to an estimate of brand or name recognition. Taking into account the net value of Gates' general wealth standard and the value of the total assets of the Gates Foundation, it can be valued. Just the surname "Gates" may be worth billions of dollars.
The habit of one party in a marriage changing the surname with the spouse is reflected in many legal cultures. Although this custom is to celebrate the union of two people in a marriage, the surname may continue to produce value when the relationship does not exist.
For many families, surnames are not only economic value, but also a symbol of status and status.
According to reports, Ivana Trump, the first ex-wife of former US President Trump, divorced Trump for many years. She has been married four times since then, but she has never changed the name "Ivana Trump" and the last name "Trump", which also made her shine in the social world. Especially after Trump became president, Ivana also published a book on how to raise her children.
Trump's influence and brand value are so great that after her daughter Ivanka got married, she did not bear her husband's surname and still insisted on calling her Ivanka Trump.
Cold knowledge: Merkel is not called "Merkel" and Clinton is not called "Clinton"
The influence of surnames is also more obvious in politics. The most typical example is German Chancellor Merkel, because she is not called Merkel at all.
According to Wikipedia, Angela Dorothea Kasner was born in Hamburg in 1954. She has German and Polish descent. In 1977, Kasner married Ulrich Merkel and named her husband Angela Merkel.
The two divorced in 1982, but Angela Merkel did not change her surname.
In 1998, Angela Merkel married a quantum chemist and Joachim Sauer, which continues to this day.
There are rumors that Merkel has not changed back to her original name, or given her current husband’s surname, because Merkel is an aristocratic surname locally. And her current husband’s last name means “sour, rough, and blunt”, which is not suitable for the status of prime minister.
But the more reliable reason should be that since Merkel began to engage in political activities, she has appeared as Angela Merkel. Merkel is not only a surname, but also a stable political asset and reputation.
In addition, former US President Clinton was not originally called "Clinton", he was originally called William Jefferson Bryce III. According to reports, his father unfortunately passed away before he was born. His mother took him and married his second husband named Clinton. After the age of 15, he decided to follow his stepfather's surname and changed his name to William Jefferson Clinton, also known as Bill Clinton.
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