Bill Gates resigned as director in 2020 over relationship investigation

Bill and Melinda Gates. Pic/AFP

Resignation of Bill Gates in 2020 from Microsoft's Board of Directors came after the board hired a law firm to investigate a romantic relationship he had with a Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate, people familiar with the matter said.

Quoting Wall Street Journal, CNN reported that some Microsoft Directors began an investigation in 2019 into the woman's allegations of prior sexual relationship with Bill Gates. During the probe, some board members decided it was no longer suitable for Gates to sit as a Director at the software company he started and led for decades, the people said.

Gates resigned before the Board's investigation was completed and before the full board could make a formal decision on the matter, another person familiar with the matter said, reported Wall Street Journal.

"Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in 2000," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "A committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm to conduct an investigation. Throughout the probe, Microsoft provided support to the employee who raised the concern."

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