Bill and Melinda Gates to split

The world’s fourthrichest person, Bill Gates, announced that his marriage has come to an end.

Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, shared to Twitter on Monday that he and his wife, Melinda Gates, had decided to split after 27 years of marriage.

However, the two will keep working together on their philanthropic initiatives, which have addressed education, gender equality and healthcare.

“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” the couple wrote in a statement that Gates posted on the platform.

“Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” the statement said.

“We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”

The pair met at a dinner for Microsoft employees in 1987 and married in 1994 in Hawaii. They have worked together at Microsoft, Gates as a CEO until last year, and his wife as a general manager.

According to Forbes, Bill Gates is the world’s fourth-richest person behind Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, LVMH’s Bernard Arnault and Tesla’s Elon Musk.