Bill Gates Sent Flirtatious Email to Female Employee 14 Years Ago During Marriage

by Kwon Jaehee

Published 19 Oct.2021 10:24(KST)

Updated 19 Oct.2021 15:36(KST)

▲Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft (MS) [Image source=AP News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] It has recently come to light that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft (MS), was warned by management for sending emails to court a female employee even 14 years ago while maintaining his marriage.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 18th (local time), just before Gates stepped down from the front line of management in 2008, the company obtained emails exchanged in 2007 between Gates, then chairman, and a female employee at a mid-level position.

The emails contained content where Gates, who was married at the time, suggested meeting the female employee outside the company after work.

Sources familiar with the matter told WSJ that Gates flirted with the female employee in the messages and even proposed a sexual encounter.

Brad Smith, then MS’s Chief Legal Officer, and Lisa Brummel, Chief People Officer (CPO), reportedly met with Gates and requested that he stop sending such emails, stating that it was inappropriate behavior, WSJ reported.

In response, Gates did not deny the email exchanges and said, "In hindsight, it was not a good idea. I will stop," sources said.

Frank Shaw, MS spokesperson, told WSJ, "Although the emails contained flirtatious content, they were not explicitly sexual. However, they were considered inappropriate."

▲Bill Gates (left) and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates (right) [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

However, Gates’s spokesperson Bridget Arnold denied the claims, calling them "false and a reproduction of rumors."

Gates, who served as MS CEO until 2000, stepped down as chairman in 2008 and completely withdrew from management, later resigning as chairman of the board in 2014.

This year, Gates ended his 27-year marriage with Melinda French Gates and was previously embroiled in controversy after it was revealed that he had a sexual relationship with a female engineer who worked at the company in the early 2000s.

The MS board reportedly received a letter from this woman at the end of 2019 detailing the affair, hired an external law firm to conduct a secret investigation, and decided last year that Gates should completely step down from the board.

Besides the 2007 emails and the 2019 letter incident, WSJ reported that the board was also informed that Gates had a romantic relationship with a female executive in 1992.

At that time, Gates had not yet married French Gates, whom he met at the company in 1987. The two married in 1994, and French Gates left the company after giving birth to their first child in 1996.