Bill and Melinda Gates have announced that they are ending their marriage after 27 years.

They made this announcement today, May 3, from their personal accounts.

The couple said that the decision came after a “great deal of thought and work.”

They said they no longer believe they can grow together as a couple in this “next phase” of their lives.

Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, met Melinda French after she started working at Microsoft in 1987. The two married on Jan. 1, 1994, and raised three children together.