Bill Gates drove to office in Mercedes, left in Porsche to meet women: Report

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates announced their divorce last month after 27 years of marriage.

After Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates announced their divorce last month, the reputation of the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation has come under media scrutiny due to his alleged extramarital affairs. A report published by Vanity Fair suggests that Gates’s inappropriate workplace relationships were an open secret in his broader professional and social circles.

A file photo of philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates (right) and his wife Melinda. (Reuters)

A former employee who had signed a non-disclosure agreement said that Bill Gates would drive to the office in his Mercedes and security personnel would show up with a golden-brown Porsche for the American business magnate to drive away, reported Vanity Fair. “We all assumed that it was when he was with women...I knew there were many offsite meetings that were not on his calendar,” the former employee was quoted by Vanity Fair as saying.

Quoting two people familiar with the relationship situation between Gates and Melinda, Vanity Fair reported that someone in Melinda’s circle hired a private investigator, leading to the divorce filing. The claims were dismissed by a spokesperson for Melinda, calling the claim “completely false.” “Neither Melinda nor anyone at her direction ever hired a private investigator,” Vanity Fair quoted the spokesperson as saying.

According to a New York Times report, Gates pursued women in the workplace when he was the chairman of Microsoft. He reportedly emailed a Microsoft employee to ask her out to dinner. He also told a woman, who was employed with Gates Foundation, that he wanted to take her out to dinner while they were on a business trip, reported Times.

Melinda Gates had been working with a divorce lawyer for over a year before the duo announced it last month, partly because of her husband’s dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Wall Street Journal. In a Times report, concerns were raised about Gates’ several meetings with Epstein, which were dismissed by a spokesperson for Microsoft Corporation as meetings centred around philanthropy.