Melinda Gates now a billionaire on shares transfer from Bill Gates

Melinda French Gates is now a billionaire in her own right. Days after she and husband Bill Gates announced their divorce, the pair are "already divvying up their massive fortune.

The fortune was made in a "massive stock transfer" worth $1.8 billion on May 3 via Gates' Cascade Investments as per SEC filings, the report said. The transfer comprised 14.1 million shares of the Canadian National Railway Company worth $1.5 billion and 2.94 million shares of AutoNation worth $309 million.

Gates uses Cascade Investments as a holding company to manage his wealth, including shares of tech giant Microsoft. Notably though, a majority of the Microsoft shares are given to the Gates Foundation and Gates personally now holds less than 1 percent.

Meanwhile, Gates' net worth has slipped from $130.4 billion to an estimated $128.6 after the stock transfer, it added. He, however, still remains the fourth richest person in the world.