Melinda French Gates Holds Hands, Twice, with Entrepreneur Philip Vaughn in N.Y.C. Outing

Melinda French Gates has been getting close to someone.

The billionaire philanthropist, 60, was photographed this week holding hands with tech entrepreneur Philip Vaughn in New York City — twice.

French Gates and Vaughn were seen together on Wednesday, Oct. 30 while getting into a car as they headed to Le Bernardin in Manhattan and then later, outside the French restaurant, according to Page Six.

Both were also smiling as they get off of a helicopter in New York before entering a black SUV earlier on Wednesday, according to The New York Post.

Representatives for French Gates had no comment.

On LinkedIn, Vaughn is listed as the founder and chairman of craft beer delivery company Tavour. He describes himself as having worked for Microsoft, a company co-founded by French Gates’ ex-husband, Bill Gates, between 1999 and 2008.

She and Gates divorced in August 2021. The pair, who share three children together, announced their separation that May after 27 years of marriage.

“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,” the couple said, in part, in their statement at the time.

In November 2022, it was reported that French Gates was dating former Fox News correspondent Jon Du Pre.

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Less than two years later, in April 2024, a spokesperson for the philanthropist told PEOPLE that French Gates and Du Pre were “no longer dating” while debunking engagement rumors.

Since then, French Gates has stepped down from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but continues her work with Pivotal Ventures, a nonprofit organization that works on projects to empower women.

In May, French Gates announced in a New York Times op-ed that she had pledged $1 billion to support women’s rights in the United States.

“In nearly 20 years as an advocate for women and girls, I have learned that there will always be people who say it’s not the right time to talk about gender equality. Not if you want to be relevant. Not if you want to be effective with world leaders (most of them men). The second the global agenda gets crowded, women and girls fall off,” she wrote then. “It’s frustrating and shortsighted.”

Pivotal Ventures said in its own statement that “with the rollback of women’s rights and headwinds to social progress in the U.S. and around the world, Melinda believes that now is the time to provide urgent capital to people and organizations fighting to protect and further equality and remove the barriers that hold women back.”

French Gates is also looking forward to upcoming release of her new book,The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward.

According to a press release, the book offers a “rare window into some of her life’s pivotal moments.”

“Over the last few years, I’ve experienced a lot of change — some of it exciting, some of it painful — so I’ve done a lot of thinking and learning about transitions,” she exclusively told PEOPLE at the time. “I decided to start writing this while I was still in the middle of this season of change, rather than safely on the other side.”