Bill Gates hit with bombshell allegations
Microsoft co-founder and one of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates, reportedly asked his colleagues out on dates while still married to wife Melinda.
According to reports in The New York Times, the US$128.3 billion (AU$165.3 billion) man was known to pursue several female colleagues.
Gates reportedly emailed a woman to ask her out for dinner following a presentation she did while he was still chairman.
“If this makes you uncomfortable, pretend it never happened,” Gates wrote in the email, according to the Times.
Within a few years, Gates asked out another woman who worked at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, another woman told the publication.
“I want to see you. Will you have dinner with me?” the billionaire reportedly asked.
She said she felt uncomfortable but laughed it off.
Other employees said Gates’ behaviour wasn’t predatory as he didn’t pressure the women into saying yes.
The Wall Street Journal also reported the Microsoft board wanted Gates step down from his role on the board in 2020 following allegations of an inappropriate relationship at work.
“Microsoft 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 Microsoft spokesman said.
“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.”
However, Gates stepped down in March 2020 before the board could push the move.
A spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal that Gates’ had had an affair “almost 20 years ago”, but that it had ended amicably and his decision to leave the board was a separate matter.
Gates’ wife, Melinda, was also reportedly upset with his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Daily Beast.
Gates reportedly flew on Epstein’s private jet and attended a late night party with Epstein.
However, Gates’ spokesperson Bridgitt Arnold said the claims were mere “speculation”.
“It is extremely disappointing that there have been so many untruths published about the cause, the circumstances and the timeline of Bill Gates’s divorce,” Arnold said in a statement.
“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 characterised as ‘sources.’”
Bill and Melinda Gates first announced their divorce earlier this month, with their $165.3 billion estate now due to be split.
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