[imagesource: Reuters]

The world’s fourth-richest man, Bill Gates, is single and ready to mingle, and the odds are in one particular lady’s favour.

The announcement came on Twitter on Monday that Bill and Melinda Gates would split after 27 years together.

While there are many aspects of their marriage that we will never know about, there was one detail about their union that has really stood out.

Bill, it turns out, was spending one weekend away every year with his ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad at her beach cottage.

It appears to have been an agreed-upon arrangement between Bill and Melinda.

Winblad has remained steadfast in his life throughout his and Melinda’s marriage – so much so that Bill even asked for her approval before marrying Melinda.

Here’s more from SheKnows:

“They broke up in 1987, partly because Winblad, five years older, was more ready for marriage” […] But they remain close friends.

“’When I was off on my own thinking about marrying Melinda,’ Gates says, ‘I called Ann and asked for her approval.’ She gave it.

Here’s Bill and Melinda Gates as a young couple:

Gates has asked for privacy while he and his family navigate the divorce.

Bill Gates asking for space and privacy is some serious irony. https://t.co/sckGqf7XBr

— Wealth Theory ™ (@Wealth_Theory) May 3, 2021

Despite this, oddsmakers at Sports Betting are taking bets on who Gates’ next girlfriend will be.

As per the New York Daily News, the odds are of course in favour of Winblad where anyone willing to take that three to one bet would win back $3 (around R43) on the dollar.

So, who is Winblad?

According to Full Celebs, Winblad is an entrepreneur and founder of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Her net worth is expected to be around $15 million and she was a heavy investor in Microsoft.

So, it looks like she is also quite the catch:

Bill and Ann met in 1984 at a Ben Rosen-Esther Dyson computer conference.

The other ‘contenders’ to gamble on, on Sports Betting, are Jennifer Aniston, Teri Hatcher, Angelina Jolie, Drew Barrymore, Jane Fonda, or Kim Kardashian. Weird picks, but we’ll run with it.

You can also bet on the Queen for some reason.

I don’t like those odds.

[source:nydailynews&fullcelebs&sheknows]