Microsoft Reportedly Had to Ban Bill Gates From Being Alone With Interns

Ouch.

Bill Coming Due

In an upcoming book about Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, a reporter is set to air some of the billionaire philanthropist's dirty laundry — including more of his alleged issues with young women in the workplace.

As the Daily Mail details per its read of the book penned by New York Times reporter Anupreeta Das, Gates was apparently "like a kid in a candy store" around young women at Microsoft. It became such an issue that the company reportedly instated a ban on interns being left alone with him.

That salacious aside from the forthcoming book titled "Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World" is overshadowed by the Microsoft cofounder's controversial friendship with now-dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which greatly tarnished his image and ultimately led to his wife, Melinda French Gates, leaving him.

Much of the book is said to be about the dissolution of that marriage, which along with the Epstein revelations also focuses on the philanthropist's history of philandering, dovetailing with the claims of misogyny in his workplace cultures and his own alleged sex scandal that make this new information seem all the more plausible.

Step Down

As the Wall Street Journal reported in 2021, Gates stepped down from the boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway the year prior amid claims that he'd had an "inappropriate" relationship with a female Microsoft employee nearly two decades prior, which the billionaire characterized as an "affair" that "ended amicably."

And in an NYT exposé Das co-wrote that same year, former employees alleged that the billionaire's longtime financial advisor had sexually harassed them. According to those employees, Gates was made aware of the allegations and failed to "take decisive action."

Last summer, the WSJ reported that women who were interviewed to work at Gates' private office, Gates Ventures, were asked explicit questions regarding their sexual histories and porn-watching habits. Men who were interviewed for similar positions couldn't recount any such lines of questioning when asked by reporters, suggesting at the very least a deeply inappropriate double standard.

Given all that context, it's amazing Gates' reputation hasn't been entirely ruined — though after Das' book comes out later this month, that may change.

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