Bill Gates has a new partner: Paula Hurd, widow of former Oracle CEO

Almost two years after announcing his divorce from Melinda Gates, Bill Gates has a new partner: Paula Hurd, the widow of Mark Hurd, the former CEO of software company Oracle and former boss of Hewlett-Packard. The news was confirmed by People magazine and the British tabloid The Daily Mail. The relationship, according to The Daily Mail, began over a year ago, but it has just now been made public. The pair have been photographed together on several occasions, including at the Indian Wells Open tennis tournament in March last year, and at the Men’s Singles Final of the Australian Open.

“It’s widely known that Bill Gates and Paula Hurd are dating, but she hasn’t met his kids yet,” a source told People. Another friend of the new couple told the Daily Mail that the two are “inseparable.” The British publication states that Gates and Hurd traveled together to Australia, where Gates met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The couple also took a romantic tour around Sydney and visited the city’s famous opera house.

The information has come to light a year and a half after Bill and Melinda formalized their divorce, which was one of the most expensive in history. The decision ended a 27-year marriage. “We have raised three incredible children [Jennifer, 26, Rory, 23, and Phoebe, 20] and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” the couple wrote in a release announcing their separation in May 2021.

Hurd – whose maiden name is Kalupa – works in event planning, although she was previously worked in the tech industry. In 1990, she was an executive for NCR, an enterprise technology leader for restaurants, retailers and banks. That’s when she married Mark Hurd, then co-CEO of Oracle. The two remained together until Hurd’s death on October 18, 2019. They stayed together even after Hurd was forced to step down in 2010 after a sexual harassment inquiry revealed that he had falsified expenses reports and other financial documents to conceal an 18-month-long relationship with a former contractor. Interestingly, in 2015, Mark and Paula Hurd were photographed behind Gates at a tennis match in California.

On Thursday, February 9, Gates was trending on social media, after Spanish chef Jordi Cruz revealed that some time ago he had closed his three-Michelin-star restaurant ABaC to serve a private meal for the Microsoft founder and his team. But while the MasterChef judge were ready to prepare the very best, Gates only asked for “a light Coke” and left. “Do you think you have to close a nice place to come and drink a Coke?” Cruz asked.

Melinda French Gates – as she has been known since the divorce – explained the pain she felt after separating from the business magnate. In a television interview last year, the philanthropist said she “had a lot of tears for many days.” “I couldn’t trust what we had,” she added, referring to the affair that Bill Gates had with a company employee in 2000.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition