‘WARNED BILL GATES ABOUT FLIRTING IN 2008’

Microsoft executives in 2008 warned Bill Gates to stop sending alleged flirtatious emails to a female employee but dropped the matter after he told them he would stop, the company revealed Monday.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report that Brad Smith, the then Microsoft’s general counsel and now its president and vice-chairman, and another executive met Gates after the company discovered the inappropriate emails sent to a midlevel employee.

The newspaper reported that Gates didn’t deny the exchanges, and the company board members, who were briefed on them, declined to take further action because there wasn’t any physical interaction between Gates and the said employee. Microsoft declined to comment Monday except to confirm the Journal’s reporting. Smith also didn’t return a request for comment.

Meanwhile, denying the allegations, Gates’ private office said in a written statement that “these claims are false, recycled rumors from sources who have no direct knowledge, and in some cases have significant conflicts of interest.” It declined to comment any further.

The reported 2008 warning to Gates came more than a decade before similar alleged behaviour led tech giant Microsoft to hire a law firm in 2019 to investigate a letter from an engineer, who said she was involved in a sexual relationship with Gates spanning over several years.

The investigation preceded Gates’ departure from Microsoft’s board last year, but didn’t come to light publicly until after he and Melinda French Gates announced in May their decision to end their marriage of 27 years. The divorce was finalised in August. The former couple still jointly runs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates was Microsoft’s CEO until 2000 and since then has gradually scaled back his involvement in the company he started with Paul Allen in 1975. He transitioned out of a day-today role in Microsoft in 2008 and served as chairman of the board until 2014. Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw told the Journal that the 2008 warning from company executives happened shortly before Gates retired as a full-time employee.