Bill Gates, Microsoft and the ‘escapade’: the backstory of the WSJ

Bill Gates, Microsoft and the ‘escapade’. This is the picture that the Wall Street Journal outlines by turning the spotlight on the tycoon, ‘fresh’ from a divorce from his wife Belinda. Microsoft’s board of directors asked Gates to leave the board in 2020 after he learned of the billionaire’s romantic relationship with an employee of the company he founded. The Wall Street Journal cites informed sources that the board hired a law firm at the end of 2019 to investigate allegations made by an employee who claimed to have had a long-term relationship with the founder of the company. Read also During the investigation, some Council members decided that it was no longer appropriate for Gates to continue to lead the behemoth. Gates left the board before the investigation was closed and before the board could make a formal decision on the matter, add cited sources in the Journal who reveal these new details after Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce in recent weeks. A spokesperson for Gates confirmed the relationship but denied that it was the origin of the decision to leave the leadership of the company. “It was a relationship of almost 20 years ago, which ended amicably,” he said, stressing that “the decision to leave the board was absolutely not related to this issue. In fact, he had already expressed his opinion for several years. intention to invest more time in philanthropic activity “. A Microsoft spokesperson, for his part, confirmed to the newspaper that” in 2019 a letter was received stating that Bill Gates attempted to start an intimate relationship with an employee of the company in 2000 “. “A Board commission analyzed the letter, aided by a law firm conducted a thorough investigation,” the spokesman said, explaining that “during the investigation, Microsoft provided extensive support to the employee” who filed the complaint. Gates resigned from the Microsoft board on March 13, 2020, three months after he was re-elected. The New York Times also revealed that Gates was known to “woo” several women who work with him, even after marrying Melinda. The newspaper cited testimonies of women who received email invitations to dinner, with some employees saying this behavior created an unpleasant atmosphere, others pointing out that this was not considered as a “predatory attitude” on the part of the newspaper. Gates.