Bill Gates accused of being dismissive toward Melinda Gates at work and pursuing female employees at Microsoft and the Gates Foundation: NYT report
- Bill Gates was described as dismissive toward Melinda in meetings, The New York Times reported.
- According to the report, sources said Gates also pursued women at Microsoft while married.
- Six former and current employees for Gates told The Times he created an uncomfortable workplace.
The Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates was said to be dismissive toward his wife, Melinda French Gates, in work meetings and to have pursued other women at Microsoft and his other endeavors while married, according to a Sunday report from The New York Times.
People with knowledge of Gates and his companies and financial dealings told The Times that Gates had pursued women who worked for him at Microsoft and at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bridgitt Arnold, a representative for Gates, told The Times that "any claim that Gates spoke of his marriage or Melinda in a disparaging manner is false."
She continued: "The claim of mistreatment of employees is also false. The rumors and speculation surrounding Gates's 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.'"
On one occasion in 2006, more than a decade after he and French Gates wed, he was said to have attended a presentation by a female employee of Microsoft and emailed her afterward to ask her to dinner, The Times reported.
"If this makes you uncomfortable, pretend it never happened," Gates wrote in the email, a source told The Times.
Another woman, whose identity was not published by The Times, said Gates once asked her to dinner while the two were in New York on a trip for their work at the Gates Foundation.
Sources familiar with Gates' endeavors also told the outlet that Gates was at times dismissive of French Gates in workplace meetings at the Gates Foundation.
In total, six current and former employees of Gates said he and his actions created a workplace that made them "uncomfortable," according to the report.
The couple, who met while French Gates was an employee at Microsoft, announced their split May 3 after 27 years of marriage.
Gates' relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is said to have played a role in the couple's split, according to the Times report and previous reporting from The Daily Beast and The Wall Street Journal.