Microsoft investigated Bill Gates' 'intimate relation' with staffer before he quit: Report

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who recently announced his divorce with his wife of 27 years Melinda Gates, was investigated by the company’s board members in 2020 over the billionaire’s relationship with a female Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate. As per The Wall Street Journal report, the board members of Microsoft Corp. made the decision in 2020 that Bill Gates was not unfit to continue sitting on its board as the probe was launched. The media outlet citing unnamed sources reported on May 16 that the board members looking into the matter had hired a law firm in late 2019 to pursue the inquiry.

The law firm was contacted by the company after reportedly a Microsoft engineer claimed in a letter that she had sexual relations with Bill over several years, the time he was still married to Melinda. However, as per the report, the Microsoft co-founder resigned before the board’s investigation ended saying that he would thereon shift more focus on his philanthropic ventures. An unnamed spokesperson for Gates also admitted to The Journal that there was an affair involving Bill almost two decades ago but it ended “amicably.”

The spokesperson reportedly told the outlet that Bill’s “decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter.”

Microsoft ‘received concern’ in late 2019

Microsoft, in an email, sent to the Associated Press said that it “received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an 'intimate' relationship with a company employee in the year 2000. A committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm, to conduct a thorough investigation. Throughout the investigation, Microsoft provided extensive support to the employee who raised the concern.”

Following Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce announcement, on Sunday, The New York Times also reported that the Microsoft co-founder had developed “a reputation for questionable conduct in work-related settings.” The media publication reported that on at least a few occasions, the former world’s richest person made overtures to women who worked for him at the company as well as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Times also cited people with direct knowledge of Bill’s behaviour. 

Bill's 'Arrangement' With Wife Melinda To Meet Ex-Gf

Notably, Bill and Melinda Gates had an ‘arrangement’ that allowed Microsoft co-founder to meet with ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad. As per People report, before Melinda joined Microsoft as a product manager in 1987 and met with Bill, the former World’s richest man had been dating Ann Winblad, a software entrepreneur and venture capitalist. According to Time, Bill and Anna developed a ‘strong bond’ and the billionaire ensured that he keeps her in life after they split in 1987.

In 1997, Walter Isaacson reported in his Time story on Bill’s life and career, “Even now, Gates has an arrangement with his wife that he and Winblad can keep one vacation tradition alive.” The report further stated that every spring, for over a decade, Bill spends a long weekend with Ann at her beach cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, “where they ride dune buggies, hang-glide and walk on the beach." Bill told the magazine in 1997 that “We can play putt-putt while discussing biotechnology.”

Further, Ann added to Time, “We share our thoughts about the world and ourselves. And we marvel about how, as two young overachievers, we began a great adventure on the fringes of a little-known industry and it landed us at the centre of an amazing universe.” In the same magazine profile, Bill had made the revelation that he actually asked his ex-girlfriend for her “approval” before asking Melinda to marry him. 

(With inputs from AP)