The "squeaky-clean" image of Bill Gates is merely the result of "good PR", but there is a different side to the Microsoft founder, Business Insider reported on Tuesday, citing people claiming to be familiar with the matter.
According to the report, Gates loved parties, engaged in sexual affairs with employees, and yelled at staffers, apart from reportedly making "numerous visits" to the house of the late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
After Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce, reports casting a shadow on Bill's squeaky-clean reputation overwhelmed the media, with female employees of Microsoft coming forward with stories of how the billionaire asked them out, and "details about his visits to strip clubs years ago emerged".
"A person like Bill Gates thinks the usual rules of behavior don't apply to him," Maria Klawe, a former Microsoft board member, said.
'Office Bully'
Particularly, allegations emerged that Gates would "yell" at everyone at the office, as four unnamed women who worked with him at Microsoft suggested that he was "brash and hot-tempered".
"Having a meeting with Bill was just an opportunity to get yelled at, so I tried to avoid that," an anonymous former Microsoft executive said.
According to unnamed people who said they were familiar with the matter, a catchphrase for the CEO was "That's the stupidest f*cking idea I've ever heard". Some employees "appreciated his candor", however, noting that "Bill yelled at everyone the same".
Others argued that his communication style was because he is "just an awkward human being as far as social interactions go".
Party Animal?
When it came to partying, Gates was reportedly a "regular attendee of exclusive after-parties" at major computer expo trade conferences, where he would get "drunk pretty easily", according to Robert Cringely, a columnist for InfoWorld.
"All of us will have been at some affair where Bill was clearly impaired. He was happier drunk", Cringely claimed, cited by The Business Insider.
Dan Graves, a former Microsoft export manager, told The Insider that in the 1980s at a party in Switzerland, he personally discovered Gates lying on top of a woman outside on the lawn, and suggested that the pair were "just snuggling".
Bill Gates Catalyst 3
The Business Insider also takes a look at bgC3 (Bill Gates Catalyst 3) - a "private office-style entity" focusing on Gates' interests outside Microsoft and his former marriage. According to the report, it was bgC3 that also played the role in the couple's split, as Bill allegedly used bgC3 to coordinate a $2 million donation from Epstein to MIT.
"It was a 'third leap into something new'", a former bgC3 employee said of the entity that was, according to the report, "far from Melinda's oversight".
What Does Bill Gates' Team Think of the Allegations?
A Gates spokesperson, cited by The Business Insider, debunked the allegations, observing that "many lies" have circulated around Gates after the news of the divorce emerged in May.
"It is extremely disappointing that there have been so many lies published about the cause, the circumstances and the timeline of Bill Gates's divorce," the spokesperson said. "The rumors and speculation surrounding Mr. Gates are becoming increasingly absurd and it's unfortunate that people who have little to no knowledge are being characterized as 'sources.'"
The spokesperson denied that Bill Gates mistreated employees or engaged in any business or personal dealings with Epstein.
