Reports continue to swirl amid news of Bill Gates’ Microsoft probe: Here is all You Need to Know

Bill and Melinda Gates announced on May 3 that they were getting divorced. However, the couple said that they would continue to work together at their Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic organisations in the world. Microsoft co-founder Bill and his wife Melinda said in identical tweets that they had made the decision to end their marriage. Here is a look at their 27 years of life together. (Image: Reuters)

Bill Gates (65) has been in the limelight recently for rather unexpected news – his divorce with his wife of 27-years Melinda French Gates (56), which was announced on May 3.

Now on May 16, the Wall Street Journal reported that Gates stepped down from his position on the Microsoft Board amid investigation into his alleged “inappropriate romantic relationship” with a staff.

A law firm was hired in 2019 to conduct an investigation into the matter after a Microsoft engineer said she had a sexual relationship with Gates “over years”, sources told the WSJ. Another source said that while murmurs within the board where increasingly calling for Gates’ to remove himself from the board, he took the step before the probe was completed and without formal decision on the matter.

Here is all you need to know:

The Microsoft probe

Microsoft Board began an investigation into allegations that founder Bill Gates had years long affair with a female company staff.

A Microsoft spokesperson told the WSJ that the information was received through a letter in late 2019, which alleged that Gates “sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in 2000”.

A committee reviewed the letter and handed the probe to an outside law firm in late 2019 to “conduct thorough investigation”, the spokesperson said, adding that “extensive support was provided to the employee who raised the concern”.

Gates however resigned from the board before the probe could be concluded and before the board could make a formal decision about the matter.

What has Bill Gates said?

A spokesperson for Bill Gates told the WSJ that the 20 year affair “ended amicably” and Gates’ “decision to to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter”.

Gates rep said he had “expressed an interest in spending more time on his philanthropy several years earlier.”

Gates resigned from the Microsoft board and the board of Berkshire Hathaway on March 13, 2020 – a move that came only three months after was re-elected to the seat. He at the time said the decision was motivated “to focus on his philanthropy”.

Concerns around Jeffrey Epstein

WSJ also reported that French Gates consulted lawyers for her divorce to gates since “at least 2019”. In their joint statement announcing their separation the couple said they “could no longer grow” together, while French Gates in her divorce petition said the “marriage was irretrievably broken.”

While both have not explicitly stated reason for the divorce, one source told the paper that Melinda Gates was “concerned about her husband’s dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein”.

Gates, in a statement in 2019, said that he “regretted” meeting with Epstein for philanthropic reasons.

Timeline

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced changes in Microsoft’s handling of employee complaints of harassment and discrimination in April 2019 after a chain email of female employees sharing stories of sexual harassment made its rounds within the company that year.

It was at this time that a letter from a female engineer demanding changes to her job and detailing her relationship with Bill Gates came to the board’s notice. Sources added that Nadella and other senior executives were also aware of the allegations.

The board also questioned Gates about his dealings with Epstein and were told it was “focused on philanthropy and nothing more”, a source said.

Following Gates’ re-election to the board, members raised concern about his relationship with the employee in wake of the #MeToo movement.

‘Reputation for questionable behavior: NYT

A May 16 report by the New York Times noted that Gates has “developed a reputation in certain circles for questionable conduct at work”.

Two sources told the paper that French Gates was “not satisfied” with how Gates handled an undisclosed sexual harassment claim against his long time money manager Michael Larson in 2018 in a confidential manner while she “insisted on an outside investigation”. Larson still has his job, it added.

The report also said that Gates “on at least a few occasions pursued women who worked for him” at the Gates Foundation.

This report also highlighted Gates relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, whom he has known since 2011, and French Gates’ “discomfort” with the two spending time together.

Epstein was accused of sex trafficking of girls and pleaded guilty of soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Gates spokesperson has rubbished all this as “untruths”, “false” and “inaccurate”, adding: “The rumours and speculation surrounding Gates’ 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.’ ”

The NYT report also noted that Gates and his wife met at work when she began job as a product manager at Microsoft in 1987 a year after graduating college.

Sources told the paper gates “would on occasion pursue women in the office” and in 2006 emailed a female Microsoft employee asking her out to dinner and to “pretend” the email “never happened” if it made her uncomfortable.

As per the NYT report, six current and former employees of Microsoft, the Gates foundation and Cascade Investment – the firm that manages the Gates’ fortune, said such incidences “created an uncomfortable workplace environment”.

They added that Gates was “known for making clumsy approaches to women in and out of the office” and this caused widespread “chatter among employees”.

Gates and Epstein discussed “toxic marriage” with Melinda Gates: Report

The Daily Beast reported that Gates used gatherings at Epstein’s New York home as an “escape” from his “toxic marriage” and that the two men even discussed ending Gates marriage with French Gates.

Sources told the paper that the gatherings were used to “escape from a ‘toxic’ marriage – a topic both men found “humorous” and that Gates found “freedom” in the “men’s club” atmosphere at Epstein’s home.

The talk of divorce happened years before the Gates’ announced their separation in 2021.

The report also noted that Gates and Epstein met from 2011 to 2014, mostly at the latter’s home – and more times that previously reported.

The report also said that on Gates’ encouragement, Epstein used the Gates Foundation to “rehabilitate his image”.

Gates’ spokesperson disputed the number of times Epstein and Gates met and said the two men never discussed Epstein getting involved with the foundation “or any personal advice on marriage or anything else”.