Bill Gates Gives $1.8 Billion in Stocks to Melinda on Day Divorce Filed

Bill Gates lined his estranged wife's pocket with nearly $2 BILLION the very same day she filed for divorce ... and this revelation is a sign they were working out the property settlement long before the divorce announcement.

The transaction went down like this ... an investment firm controlled by Bill transferred millions of shares in two companies to Melinda Monday, the same day the billionaires announced the end of their marriage.

Bill's investment firm, Cascade Investment LLC, sent Melinda more than 14 million shares of Canadian National Railway Co. and more than 2.9 million shares of AutoNation Inc ... according to docs obtained by TMZ.

Based on Wednesday's stock prices, the shares are worth north of $1.8 billion ... including about $1.53 billion in Canadian National Railway shares and about $310 million on AutoNation shares.

As we first told you ... Melinda filed divorce docs that make it clear there's no prenup.

They signed a separation agreement ahead of the divorce filing, and the stock transfer indicates they are already down the road in dividing assets.

It'll be interesting to see how Bill and Melinda divvy up their assets ... and the billion-dollar stock transfer is the first clue.