Prior to this, six former and current Microsoft employees claimed that the company's billionaire founder created an uncomfortable workplace as he often made inappropriate comments to female employees.
- Oct 19, 2021
AceShowbiz - Microsoft executives reportedly had tried to stop Bill Gates inappropriate behavior. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Monday, October 18, two top executives at Microsoft told the company's billionaire founder more than a decade ago to stop sending "inappropriate" emails to a female employee.
A Microsoft spokesman, Frank Shaw, claimed that back in 2008, the company became aware that Gates sent "inappropriate" messages to the employee a year earlier. It was also said that Brad Smith and Lisa Brummel, the current present of the company and the then-human resources chief respectively, met Gates and asked him to stop.
The billionaire himself allegedly admitted that sending such emails was not a good idea. He also reportedly said that he would stop his action.
In response to the reports, a spokesperson for Gates denied them in a statement. "These claims are false, recycled rumors from sources who have no direct knowledge, and in some cases have significant conflicts of interest," said the spokesperson to Insider.
Prior to this, Gates was accused of behaving inappropriately with female staffers at the company. In May, Microsoft reacted to the accusations by revealing that its board hired a law firm in 2019 to investigate accusations that Gates, who announced his divorce from Melinda French Gates earlier this year, had an affair with an engineer in 2000.
Meanwhile, six former and current Microsoft employees claimed to The Times that Gates created an uncomfortable workplace. He often made suggestive comments toward women. It was further reported that Gates, who stepped down as the CEO of Microsoft in 2000, had connections with financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as they met multiple times starting in 2011.
Gates announced his divorce in May, writing on Twitter, "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives," referring to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that they founded in 2000.
"We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives," the philanthropists concluded their statement. "We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life."
