The founder and former head of the US technology giant
stepped down as board chair in March 2020.
"Microsoft Corp. board members decided that Bill Gates
needed to step down from its board in 2020 as they pursued an investigation
into the billionaire's prior romantic relationship with a female Microsoft
employee that was deemed inappropriate," the Journal reported, citing
people close to the matter.
This was "an affair almost 20 years ago which ended
amicably," a spokeswoman for Gates told the Journal.
According to the spokeswoman, Gates left Microsoft to focus
more on his philanthropic organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
A spokesperson for Microsoft told AFP that the company was
alerted in the second 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."
The employee, an engineer, claimed in a letter to have had
a sexual relationship with Gates "over years," the Journal reported.
According to the Journal, some board members also asked
about links between Gates and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed
himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for allegedly trafficking minors.
Gates's team assured the board the Microsoft founder had
met Epstein for "philanthropic reasons" and "regretted doing
so," the Journal said.
Gates, who founded Microsoft in 1975, stepped down as the
company's CEO in 2000, saying he wanted to focus on his foundation. AFP
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