Is Bill Gates dating Oracle CEO Mark Hurd's widow Paula? Rumours abound

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is rumoured to be dating the widow of former Oracle CEO Mark Hurd. Paula Hurd. The Microsoft co-founder, 67, has been in love but Hurd "hasn’t met his kids yet,” People magazine reported, citing sources familiar with the development. Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, who was once CEO of Hewlett-Packard, died in 2019. "It's widely known that Bill Gates and Paula Hurd are dating," a source confirmed to the magazine on condition of anonymity. 

Photographed together at Australian Open

Bill Gates and his rumoured girlfriend were photographed together during a match at the Australian Open in December 2022. They were spotted seated side-by-side as they enjoyed the Men's Singles Final. Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates called off their marriage of 27 years in August 2021.

Bill and Melinda have three children together, daughters Jennifer, 26, Phoebe, 20, and son Rory, 23. Gates' ex-wife is also expecting her first child with her now husband Nayel Nassar. The baby is "due any day," sources told People magazine. 

“They’ve been together over a year and she’s always described as a ‘mystery woman,’ but it’s no mystery to their inner circle that they’re in a romantic relationship,” an anonymous friend was quoted as saying by Daily Mail describing Hurd. 

Melinda French Gates announced her divorce from her ex-husband and billionaire Bill Gates in 2021 as she shed light on the 'painful' decision last year. During an interview with Fortune magazine, Gates' ex-wife had said that her divorce from a Microsoft co-founder was ‘unbelievably painful in innumerable ways’. 

The couple was married for three decades before they finally decided to part ways in May 2021.

They continue to work together as co-chairs of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For Melinda, continuing to do business alongside her ex-husband Bill after their split wasn't easy. She described to a publication how she had to be at her best each day for every event that she had to attend with Bill.