Gates allegedly warned over ‘inappropriate’ email contact

BILL GATES was told to stop sending “inappropriate” emails to a female Microsoft employee while he was chairman of the board, it has been alleged.

The married billionaire was flirtatious and propositioned the mid-level employee, The Wall Street Journal

claimed, but was allegedly called out on his behaviour by two top executives.

The allegations, which Mr Gates denies, are the latest in a series of claims about his conduct while at the company. He has admitted having an affair with a colleague at Microsoft, and is said to have made a number of advances towards female colleagues, according to allegations made in The New York Times.

Yesterday, Frank Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman, said that in 2008, shortly before Mr Gates retired as a full-time employee, the company became aware of emails sent in 2007.

Mr Shaw told The Wall Street Journal

Mr Gates proposed meeting the female employee outside of work and off campus. “While flirtatious, they were not overtly sexual, but were deemed to be inappropriate,” he said, adding that no formal complaint had been made.

A spokesman for Mr Gates, 65, told The Wall Street Journal: “These claims are false, recycled rumours from sources who have no direct knowledge, and in some cases have significant conflicts of interest.”

He has admitted having an affair with a different colleague at Microsoft starting in 2000 and lasting several years.

An external law firm was hired to address concerns raised by the woman, but it was only brought to the attention of the company in 2019.

Mr Gates resigned from the board in March last year. He and his wife Melinda, 56, are engaged in divorce proceedings, with their marriage “irretrievably broken”, court documents show.