New Reports Claim Bill Gates Had Extra-Marital Affair With Microsoft Employee, Left Company’s Board Amid Probe Into Relationship

By Edna Wande On May 17, 2021

Amid divorce from wife Melinda Gates, new reports have alleged that Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder engaged in sexual relationships with women connected to the company, sparking conversations it being a possible reason for crashed marriage.

A report in The New York Times on Sunday, May 16, details how Gates allegedly “pursued” several women connected to Microsoft and his foundation.

He developed “a reputation for questionable conduct in work-related settings,” the paper reported.

The Times reported, citing “people with direct knowledge with overtures,” that “on at least a few occasions, Mr. Gates pursued women who worked for him at Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” but did not cite the names of the people involved.

However, according to the publication, Melinda reportedly set in motion the divorce process over Gates’ friendship with sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein whom the Microsoft billionaire allegedly stayed close to even after Epstein was convicted for soliciting sex with girls as young as 14.

Reacting to this, Gates’ spokesperson told the Times that;

It is extremely disappointing that there have been so many untruths published about the cause, the circumstances and the timeline of Bill Gates’ divorce.

The spokesperson said that the “claim of mistreatment of employees is also false,” and that;

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.’

In another report from Wall Street Journal, Bill Gates’s 2020 resignation from Microsoft’s board of directors came after the board hired a law firm to investigate a romantic relationship he had with a Microsoft employee.

The publication stated that in 2019, Microsoft’s board of directors, on which Gates sat, opened an investigation into one of those cases after being notified that he had “sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000,” Frank X. Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman, said on Sunday.

The board reportedly hired a law firm to investigate. The following year, Gates stepped down from Microsoft’s board.

Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the Journal reported Sunday that a Microsoft engineer had “alleged in a letter that she had a sexual relationship over years with Mr. Gates.”

It added;

During the probe, some board members decided it was no longer suitable for Mr. Gates to sit as a director at the software company he started and led for decades. Mr. Gates resigned before the board’s investigation was completed.

Corroborating this claim, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to CNN Business late Sunday;

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 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.

Reacting to the allegations in a statement to NPR, a spokesperson for Gates said;

There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably. Bill’s 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 spokesperson also pointed to a March 2020 statement regarding his decision to resign from the board, stressing;

The rumors 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.

Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and one of the wealthiest people in the world, has attracted new scrutiny in recent weeks following his divorce from Melinda Gates earlier this month, ending a 27-year marriage. The marriage was “irretrievably broken” Melinda Gates wrote in a court filing.

Bill Gates is one of the richest people in the world. His net worth was $144 billion as of today, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking.