00:00Well, where else but on our channel can we discuss the divorce of one of the richest people on the
00:05planet,
00:06a recurring figure in our episodes, Bill Gates.
00:09Another good reason to take a closer look at a man who is considered a very pious figure in global
00:14politics.
00:15Despite the fact that the billionaire consistently fights for the rights of sexual minorities and transgender people,
00:21his own family turned out to be quite orthodox.
00:24It was the first and only marriage for both spouses. No polyamory or other nonsense like gender changes.
00:3027 years together, three children.
00:34$146 billion between the two of them, not counting $50 billion in the charitable foundation.
00:40Altogether, that's more than the GDP of, for example, Ukraine.
00:44Houses, hotels, estates all over the world.
00:47100,000 hectares of land in the U.S. alone.
00:50A fleet of private jets.
00:52In the good old days, when Americans still called things by their proper names,
00:57people like Gates were considered obscenely rich.
01:00Critical novels like The Iron Heel of Oligarchy were written about them,
01:03and expose films in the style of Citizen Kane were made.
01:07However, Bill Gates did what the nouveau riche of the past couldn't achieve.
01:11He got almost all progressive American media hooked on grants from his charitable foundation.
01:17Global mass media quickly followed suit.
01:20At the same time, the oligarch bought up a good number of politicians as well.
01:25As a result, his real power in the states is almost unlimited.
01:29No, I don't want to appoint American presidents for the rest of my life.
01:34Lazily, he said in 2010 I'd rather focus on modernizing the energy sector.
01:39In the global media landscape, Gates is something between a pop star and the Pope.
01:45At the same time, the oligarch is imposing a lifestyle on the masses that is completely different from the one
01:51he follows himself.
01:52After all, he is the son of wealthy and influential parents,
01:55and he received his company and initial capital not in a garage, but practically on a silver platter.
02:01We already talked about this in another episode, but here are a couple of details that weren't included there.
02:07Twenty years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice tried to have Microsoft recognized as a monopoly,
02:12bring it under antitrust law, and break it up.
02:15At that time, the corporation controlled more than 90% of the software market.
02:20Microsoft's lawyers paid them off.
02:22In America, this is called lobbying.
02:25Congressmen and American lawmakers voted to cut funding for the Treasury Department.
02:31The case fell apart.
02:32Microsoft continued to dominate the market.
02:34By the way, it was later recognized as a monopoly by both the European Commission and the Russian Federal Anti
02:39-Monopoly Service.
02:40At the same time, Microsoft started getting government contracts, began servicing the Pentagon,
02:45and after that, no one asked them any uncomfortable questions anymore.
02:50The topic of taxes quietly disappeared from the news as well.
02:53Bill Gates, like Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, is registered in the state of Washington,
02:58where there is no tax on large personal fortunes and no tax on dividends either.
03:02Income tax?
03:03But technically, Gates doesn't really have any income until he decides to sell his shares.
03:09Precisely to shield his money from taxes, Gates once left Microsoft and transferred his capital to a charitable foundation.
03:16This foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is actively investing.
03:21For example, just from pharmaceutical stocks last year, the foundation could have made tens of billions.
03:27However, it is impossible to get information about these reasons or their profits.
03:31And in fact, it's also impossible to tax them.
03:34After all, it's charity.
03:35The real problem is that modern capitalists have run out of colonies.
03:39Now they want to target the middle class directly.
03:41Gates openly suggests that humanity should switch to responsible consumption,
03:47which in fact means gradually reducing incomes.
03:50It's very convenient and noble to advocate for shared consumption,
03:54giving up meat and the sharing economy when you have your own private fleet of airplanes.
03:58For example, the Australian government, following Gates' advice,
04:02officially recommends eating insects and considering them as part of the main diet.
04:07Today, we took a step toward including insects in mainstream Australian diets
04:11by releasing the CSIRO Edible Insect Industry Roadmap.
04:16It outlines a comprehensive plan that examines the challenges and opportunities
04:20for Australia to become a participant in the global industry worth 1.4 billion Australian dollars by 2023.
04:29In his new book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster,
04:33the oligarch suggests that people radically reduce their carbon footprint.
04:37Don't eat meat, don't drive cars, don't fly on vacation.
04:41He himself continues to fly more than most celebrities in the world.
04:45Gates advises investors from all over the world to invest in green energy,
04:49and he especially likes hydrogen.
04:51But he himself invests in oil and harmful industries,
04:54like Caterpillar and ExxonMobil, in the old-fashioned way.
04:59After their divorce, the Gates couple intend to split their charitable foundation.
05:03Mlinda, whose only role has always been that of a rich man's wife,
05:07promises to give out grants and support women working in high-tech fields.
05:12The reason for the divorce, which leaked to the media, is no less interesting.
05:16No more, no less.
05:18The largest magazine in America,
05:19The Wall Street Journal, wrote that the divorce may be connected to Bill Gates' contacts
05:24with the American millionaire and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
05:27According to the publication's sources,
05:30Gates' contacts with Epstein became one of the reasons for Mlinda's concern.
05:35As a former employee of the Gates Foundation said,
05:38Mlinda's concerns began in 2013 after the couple's first meeting with the millionaire,
05:43who was later accused of trafficking minors for sexual exploitation.
05:48The publication specifies that Mlinda Gates began consulting with lawyers about divorcing Bill
05:53in 2019, describing their marriage as irretrievably broken.
05:59In particular, she spoke with lawyers several times in October 2019,
06:03when the media reported on several meetings between Gates and Epstein
06:07after the millionaire had already been faced rape accusations.
06:11At that time, Microsoft founder's representative Bridget Arnold stated that the entrepreneurs
06:17discussed charity issues, and Gates regretted it and admitted that meeting with Epstein was a mistake.
06:23And it's also interesting to watch this video, Divorce as a Trend.
06:27Amazon head Jeff Bezos and his wife Mackenzie officially divorced a few years ago after 25 years
06:34of marriage. After the divorce, Bezos transferred 19.7 million Amazon shares to his ex-wife.
06:41As she promised, Mackenzie donated a significant part of her fortune to charity.
06:47She allocated $1.7 billion to organizations that fight racial inequality, discrimination against members
06:54of the LGBT community, climate change issues, and also support democracy, the economy, and the healthcare sector.
07:02In general, the whole American philanthropist package.
07:05Moving on.
07:07Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, got married and divorced several times as he became wealthier.
07:13Larry Allison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation, who, according to Forbes,
07:17ranks 7th on the list of the world's richest people, has been married 4 times.
07:21His wives changed as he became wealthier. In Russia, the situation is exactly the same.
07:27The billionaire Roman Abramovich, who settled in Britain, has been married 3 times, most recently,
07:32to Daria Jukova. After their divorce in 2017, the couple made an official statement that was
07:38almost identical to the one Bill and Melinda Gates made.
07:41After 10 years together, we have made a difficult decision to separate.
07:46However, we remain close friends, parents of two wonderful children,
07:50and partners in the projects we started and developed together.
07:54The owner of the Seversal Group, Alexey Mordashov, divorced his first wife, Yelena Novitskaya,
07:59in 1996. Now he has a third wife.
08:03Mordashov has two sons from his second marriage, to whom he reportedly transferred 65 of his shares
08:09in the companies Nordgold and Tiwai, making them dollar billionaires.
08:14Vladimir and Natalya Potanin, who have 3 children, were married for 30 years and divorced in 2014.
08:21Potanin is one of the biggest businessmen and, according to Forbes, the richest person in Russia.
08:27It's a strange picture. Happy, strong marriages, a husband and wife who love each other,
08:32children they adore, and then suddenly, boom, a divorce.
08:36Usually, this is explained like this. An oligarch, who thinks he will live a long life
08:41and needs a younger and more stylish partner for that, gives in to temptation and the strong family
08:46falls apart. Especially since there are plenty of gold diggers targeting the super-rich.
08:52Or maybe a fake divorce is started just to hide capital again and cover up new super-profits.
08:58Or maybe there's a third version. It's the perfect time to read the comments under the episode.
09:04After all, there's probably a close friend of Gates, Bezos, or Elon Musk among them,
09:09who will share their insider information and lay everything out clearly.
09:13Thank you for watching and see you in future episodes on the Kremola channel.
