Bill Gates and Melinda Gates have announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage after a great deal of thought.

The decision to end their marriage was announced by both Bill and Melinda Gates in a joint statement shared on their Twitter handles.

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They said “we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple”.

“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” the joint statement said.

The couple, who have three children and jointly run Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said: “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.”

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“We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives,” they said.

“We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life,” Bill and Melinda Gates further tweeted.

They first met in the 1980s when Melinda joined Bill’s Microsoft firm, said a media report.

Their organisation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent billions of funds in fighting causes such as infectious diseases and encouraging vaccinations in children.

According to Forbes, Bill Gates is the fourth wealthiest person in the world and is worth 124 billion dollars.

Bill Gates made his money through the firm he co-founded in the 1970s, Microsoft, which is the biggest software company in the world.

In 1987, Melinda joined Microsoft as a product manager and they first sat together at a business dinner that year in New York.

They got married in 1994 on the Hawaiian island of Lanai.

As per reports, Bill gates hired up all the local helicopters to stop unwanted guests flying over.

Bill Gates resigned from the board of Microsoft last year to focus on his philanthropic activities.