By Ajayi Oluwatomisin.
Bill Gates was asked to quit the Microsoft board last year in the midst of an investigation conducted by the company into an alleged affair with a Microsoft staff,according to a wall street journal.
The renowned tech mogul is frequently making the headline these days, but not for all the right reasons. News of the investigation trailed the recent announcement of Bill and Melinda Gates divorce, as they decided to go their separate ways after 27 years of Marriage.
On Monday, a Spokesman for Microsoft said the software company had received a complaint in 2019 that Mr Gates had “sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a female employee in 2000”. Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft board had deemed Mr Gate’s relationship with the female staff to be improper and recommended that he stepped down.
The company launched an investigation in 2019 into the alleged relationship between Bill Gates and the employee. This investigation was aided by an external law firm. Throughout the investigation, Microsoft provided huge support to the concerned employee; Who was an engineer at the company at the time of the incident.
The Vent Republic can confirm the statement of a spokeswoman for Mr. Gates saying, “There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably.” She said his decision to quit the board was not in anyway related to the matter. In fact he had expressed an interest in spending more time on his philanthropy starting years earlier.”
The former world’s richest man co-founded the company in 1975, served as it’s CEO until 2000 and was chairman till 2014. He resigned from Microsoft board in March 13, 2020, three months after he had been re-elected to the position.