Bill Gates has found love once again. According to reports, Gates, 67, is dating Paula Hurd, the widow of late Oracle CEO Mark Hurd for more than a year. Paula Hurd, 60, is also a tennis enthusiast like the Microsoft co-founder and the two have often been spotted together, according to reports.
Mark Hurd, the former co-CEO of Oracle died in 2019 after a reported battle with cancer. He had an estimated net worth of $500 million at the time of his death. Mark too was a tennis enthusiast like Gates and had attended several tennis matches together. However, these days, Gates is often seen attending tennis matches with Paula.
In Love Again
Gates and Paula Hurd were recently in Australia, according to a DailyMail.com report. "They're inseparable," a friend of the rumored couple told the Daily Mail on Wednesday. "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."
Gates and Hurd were seen sitting next to each other and watching the Men's Singles Final at the Australian Open last month. In fact, the billionaire along with Hurd also traveled together to Sydney to meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Paula's husband reportedly battled cancer before passing away in October 2019 at the age of 62. At the time of his death, Mark Hurd's estimated net worth was $500 million.
Mark ran computer and printer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard from 2005 until 2010. He left and joined Oracle a month after quitting due to a sexual harassment issue.
It is also not surprising that the Microsoft founder and an Oracle executive—both well-known names in Silicon Valley—had their paths intersect over the years.
Mark, a former college tennis scholar, and Paula were even pictured behind Gates at a tennis match in California in 2015.
Paula, on the other hand, used to be a tech executive and is now an event planner and philanthropist.
Tennis Brought Them Together
According to the outlet, Paula and Gates have been together for more than a year now. She was recently seen attending the Men's Singles Final at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, with the co-founder of Microsoft.
They further stoked romance rumors after they were spotted walking together around the Australian city. Photos of the two taking in the sights were published at the time but she wasn't identified at the time.
It is likely that both Gates and Hurd became close because of their mutual love for tennis. They had last been spotted together watching the Laver Cup at the O2 Arena in London in September 2022, before their date at the Australian Open in January.
The devoted sports fans were also caught on camera at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, in October 2021, but they were separated by a few rows at the time.
Paula whose maiden name is Kalupa was an executive at NCR when she married her late husband, who spent 25 years moving up the ranks at the corporation.
Paula and Mark have two daughters Kathryn and Kelly.
The Hurds have been longtime donors to Mark's alma mater Baylor University, where they contributed the lead donation in 2018 to launch its $1.1 billion philanthropy campaign.
A brand-new $60 million welcome center named for the couple will soon be unveiled on campus thanks to the kind contribution.
Despite receiving a marketing degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, Paula joined her husband in supporting Baylor's national championship tennis team, among other notable efforts. And just this year, she followed their tradition by creating a new initiative that gave young, aspiring players at the BNP Paribas Open grants totaling $100,000.
News of the relationship comes close to two years after Gates and his ex-wife Melinda Gates announced they were divorcing after 27 years of marriage. Their divorce was finalized in August 2021.
Melinda and Bill Gates have three children together: son Rory, 23 and daughters Jennifer, 26, and Phoebe, 20. According to the source, Jennifer is now expecting her first child with her husband Nayel Nassar and is "due any day."
Since their divorce, Gates and his ex have remained committed to their work with The Gates Foundation, which they founded in 2000.
In an interview with Fortune magazine in October, Melinda Gates said that the Covid-19 pandemic gave her the "privacy to do what she needed to."
Additionally, she claimed that their marriage's "trust" had been broken by her husband's liaison with a Microsoft employee in 2000 in 2021.
