Microsoft Board Decided to Oust Bill Gates Over Affair With Staffer
Just days after Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce, new reports have surfaced revealing that the Microsoft board of directors had been leaning towards removing Gates following an investigation into the billionaire’s prior romantic relationship with an employee at the tech company.
According to the Wall Street Journal, members of the Microsoft board launched an investigation in 2019 after receiving a letter from an employee saying that Gates sought to “initiate an intimate relationship” with her 19 years prior. Gates resigned from the company in March 2020 before the investigation was completed.
“There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably,” a Gates spokesperson told WSJ. “[His] decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter. In fact, he had expressed an interest in spending more time on his philanthropy starting several years earlier.”
The New York Times also reported on Sunday that Gates had “pursued” several women over the past 27 years, including one Microsoft employee who said that Gates asked her to dinner in 2006 in an email that also said “”If this makes you uncomfortable, pretend it never happened.” Some years later, another woman who worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said she was also asked out by Gates.
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates announced their divorce on May 3, agreeing to divide their $130 billion fortune while continuing to work together as co-chairs of their philanthropic foundation. The Times and WSJ report that the divorce was set in motion in October 2019 shortly after reports surfaced of Gates’ ties to Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of underage sex trafficking and soliciting prostitution from a minor. It is unclear exactly how much French Gates knew about Gates’ connection to Epstein, and Gates’ representatives have vehemently denied that Epstein’s ties played a factor.
““Your characterization of his meetings with Epstein and others about philanthropy is inaccurate, including who participated,” a spokesperson wrote to the Times. “Similarly, any claim that Gates spoke of his marriage or Melinda in a disparaging manner is false. The claim of mistreatment of employees is also false. The rumors and speculation surrounding Gates’s divorce are becoming increasingly absurd, and it’s unfortunate that people who have little to no knowledge of the situation are being characterized as ‘sources.’”
More to come…
