Did Bill Gates end his 27-year marriage with Melinda for a Chinese female?

Billionaire couple Bill and Melinda Gates decided to end their 27-year marriage in a joint statement as their marriage has “irretrievably broken”. Both Bill and Melinda took to Twitter to inform the world about their decision to split ending their more than two decades of marriage.

, A statement posted on Twitter by Bill Gates said, “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. 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. We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundations, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.”

Soon after news of their divorce went viral, speculations were rife about, another female being involved in Bill Gates life.

The news sparked rumours of the reason for their split, including one that Zhe 'Shelly' Wang, a translator for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, had more than a professional relationship with Bill or Melinda.

But in a post to Chinese social media platform Weibo on Friday, Wang denied the speculation according to the Daily Mail."I originally thought [the rumour] would be self-defeating from groundless sources, but I didn't expect it to get more crazy,' she wrote in Mandarin. "Thank you for your concern over the past 24 hours through private messages, and friends who helped me dispel rumours."

Wang's friend Li Donglei also denied the rumours in a blog post."I think it is entirely my instinct that Wang Zhe can't do this kind of thing," Donglei wrote. "Over the years, Wang Zhe has been doing interpretation work for the Gates Foundation for different projects, but she is not a full-time translator for Gates. I guess some people made up gossip about 'Gates cheating on a Chinese beauty' just because they saw Wang Zhe's translation work photos at the Gates Foundation and saw that she was a Chinese beauty and a single woman.

"They don't care about the slander of an innocent girl and her family by such rumours."

Since the news of Bill and Melinda's breakup, it's been revealed the couple didn't sign a prenuptial agreement however they do have a separation agreement.

The pair own a private jet and several properties along with Bill's fortune which is estimated to be worth over US$130 billion

The news that Bill and Melinda Gates are to divorce after 27 years of marriage has come as a shock in the worlds of philanthropy and technology.