Bill Gates finds love again with Paula Hurd, widow of Oracle CEO Mark Hurd
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It appears Bill Gates, 67, has found a love match with fellow tennis fan Paula Hurd, 60, DailyMail.com reveals exclusively.
Hurd is the widow of former Oracle Co-CEO and Chairman Mark Hurd, who died at the age of 62 in 2019 after a battle with cancer.
“They are inseparable,” a friend of the couple tells DailyMail.com.
“They’ve been together for over a year and always describe her as a ‘mystery woman,’ but it’s no mystery to her inner circle that they’re in a romantic relationship.”
Hurd, once a technology executive, is now an event planner, organizer, and philanthropist.
Bill Gates, 67, has found a loving match with fellow tennis fan and former tech executive Paula Hurd, 60. “They are inseparable,” a friend tells DailyMail.com. The look of love was obvious at the WTA semifinal match in Indian Wells, California this past March.
Bill and Paula were most recently seen sitting ringside in the men’s singles final at the Australian Open in Melbourne during their trip to Australia last month.
The Microsoft founder was all smiles as he watched the tournament with his date on January 29.
Paula is the widow of former Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd (left), who died in 2019 after a battle with cancer. Bill and Melinda divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage
Her late husband, who spent most of his career at technology company NCR and then Hewlett-Packard before joining Oracle in 2010, had an estimated net worth of $500 million at the time of his death.
And it’s no surprise that the paths of the Microsoft founder and Oracle executive – both leading Silicon Valley figures – and his wife have crossed over the years.
Mark, a former college tennis student, and Paula were even photographed behind Gates at a tennis match in California in 2015.
But last month, it was Paula and Bill who were paired off when they were seen watching the men’s singles final together at the Australian Open in Melbourne during a trip to Australia.
The couple also traveled to Sydney, where the billionaire met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Gates and Hurd took the opportunity to take a romantic walk through the city while stopping to admire panoramic views of the harbor and visit the famous Opera House.
Photos of the two observing the sights were released at the time, but Hurd had not been identified.
Hurd and her late husband (top row, far left) were frequent spectators at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, where Bill Gates (bottom row, far right next to John McEnroe) had also been seen in the crowd, not too far. of the couple, in 2015
Both Gates and Hurd have been long-time tennis fans and have been seen attending the same tournaments over the years. They appear in the men’s final in Melbourne last month.
During their visit to Australia in January, the two were also spotted taking a romantic walk around Sydney, stopping to take in views of the Harbor Bridge and the famous Opera House.
The couple likely bonded over their love of tennis.
Before their date at the Australian Open in January, they had last been seen watching the 2022 Laver Cup together at London’s O2 Arena in September.
The avid sports fans were also photographed at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California in October 2021, however they were sitting just a few rows away at the time.
Paula, whose maiden name is Kalupa, was working as an NCR executive in 1990 when she married her late husband, who spent 25 years climbing the ranks at the company.
The couple, who resided in San Mateo County, shared two daughters, Kathryn and Kelly.
The Hurds were longtime donors to Mark’s alma mater, Baylor University, where they contributed a lead endowment to kick off his $1.1 billion philanthropic campaign in 2018.
The generous donation helped fund a new $60 million welcome center named after the couple is set to open on campus later this year.
Prior to their date at the Australian Open, they had last attended the 2022 Laver Cup together at London’s O2 Arena in September (pictured)
They were seen together again months earlier, in March, when Gates laughed while chatting with Paula at the BNP Paribas Open.
The avid sports fans were also photographed at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California in October 2021, however they were sitting just a few rows away at the time.
Despite earning her marketing degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, Paula joined her husband in making significant contributions to Baylor, including supporting the university’s national championship tennis program.
And last year, he continued his tradition by launching a new initiative that awards $100,000 grants to aspiring young players at the BNP Paribas Open.
The show was announced on March 14 and just four days later, Paula and Bill would be pictured together watching the Women’s Tennis Association semifinal match in Indian Wells.
A few days after his visit to Australia, Gates admitted in an interview that he is open to dating again after his divorce.
When asked if he would like to find love again in a meeting with the BBC during his visit to Kenya last week, he replied: ‘Sure, I’m not a robot.’
His budding romance with Hurd comes two years after Gates split from wife Melinda French Gates in 2021 after 34 years together and 27 years of marriage.
Paula, maiden name Kalupa, was working as an NCR executive in 1990 when she married her late husband, who spent 25 years with the company before moving on to Hewlett-Packard and Oracle.
Paula and her late husband shared two daughters, Kathryn and Kelly.
Gates’ ex-wife, and mother of his three children, previously spoke about their “incredibly painful” divorce, explaining that she “just couldn’t stay in that marriage anymore.”
Melinda French Gates told Fortune magazine in October that the Covid-19 pandemic helped her have the “privacy to do what she needed to do.”
She also said in 2021 that her husband’s affair with a Microsoft employee in 2000 had broken “trust” in their marriage.
She described how she sobbed on the floor when her marriage fell apart, never having thought that the relationship would end in divorce.
The couple’s divorce settlement is the second most expensive in America after Jeff Bezos’ $38.3 billion split with ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos.