Bill Gates and Paula Hurd.Photo: Splash
Bill Gatesis in a relationship.
The Microsoft co-founder, 67, is datingPaula Hurd,widow of Mark Hurd, the CEO of software company Oracle and the one-time boss of Hewlett-Packard, who died in 2019.
“It’s widely known that Bill Gates and Paula Hurd are dating, butshe hasn’t met his kids yet,” a source tells PEOPLE.
Bill Gates and Paula Hurd the Australian Open Men’s Final in January.Splash
News of the relationship comes close to two years after Gates and his ex-wifeMelinda French Gatesannounced they weredivorcing after 27 years of marriage. Theirdivorce was finalizedin August 2021.
Gates and French Gates, 58, share three children, daughtersJennifer, 26, and Phoebe, 20, and sonRory, 23. Jennifer is currentlyexpecting her first childwith husbandNayel Nassarand is “due any day,” the source adds.
A rep for Gates did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The Daily Mailwas first to report on the news.
Bill Gates and Paula Hurd.Splash
Hurd was married to her late husband for nearly 30 years, until his death in October 2019. They share two children, daughters Kathryn and Kelly. He was 62.
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Mark Hurd and Paula Hurd.Wikimedia
The relationship news comes just days after Gates was asked during an interview if he hoped to find love again.
“Sure, I’m not a robot,” the billionaire said during an interview with the BBC.
RELATED VIDEO: Melinda French Gates Opens Up About What Led to Divorce from Bill Gates: ‘I Couldn’t Trust What We Had’
Since their divorce, Gates and his ex haveremained committed to their work with The Gates Foundation, which they founded in 2000.
“I think we have a productive working relationship, and I think that will continue,” French Gates said during an interview last year, describing their relationship as “friendly.”
“Certainly, I wish him well,” she added.
Opening up about their split back in October, French Gates called it “unbelievably painful, in innumerable ways.”
“I had some reasons I just couldn’t stay in that marriage anymore,” she said toFortunemagazine. “But the odd thing about COVID is that it gave me the privacy to do what I needed to do.”
“My main concern, of course, was trying to protect my kids through it,” the philanthropist added. “And we got to the other side.”
In his annual year-end blog post in December, Gates — who has previously said he “will always be sorryfor the pain that I caused Melinda and our family” — reflected on having hit “some personal low points over the past years,” which included “the end of my marriage.”
Melinda French Gates, Bill Gates.KAMIL ZIHNIOGLU/AFP via Getty
Last year, French Gates, who has spoken about"definitely" being open to dating again, sparked romance rumors with Jon Du Pre, a former reporter who worked as a correspondent for Fox News in the ’90s and early 2000s.
Although neither French Gates nor Du Pre has spoken publicly about their reported romance, the billionaire’s youngest child follows the former reporter on Instagram.
source: people.com
