Bill Gates had to be told by executives to stop emailing a female employee in 2008

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It was recently revealed that Bill Gates probably isn’t the innocent, loveable nerd that we’ve all come to know over the years. Now, a new report has come out that claims that the billionaire had to be told to cut off communications with a female employee back in 2008.

According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft became aware of email communications that it deemed inappropriate between Gates, who was still a full-time employee of the company at the time, and a lower-level female employee.

The report claims that Gates had been sending flirtatious, but not overtly sexual, emails to the employee in 2007. The emails allegedly show Gates proposing to meet the employee at a location outside of work.

As a response to this, two executives from the company sat down and spoke with Gates. Brad Smith, who was the company’s General Counsel at the time, and now retired Chief People Officer, Lisa Brummel, met with Gates and asked that he stop communications.

After that, a board committee discussed the matter and found that no further action was needed. Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw said of the emails, “while flirtatious, they were not overtly sexual, but were deemed to be inappropriate,” also including that no complaint was ever filed by the employee.

Gates’ spokesperson Bridgitt Arnold released a statement claiming, “These claims are false, recycled rumors from sources who have no direct knowledge, and in some cases have significant conflicts of interest.”

Whether or not the claims are true, it seems like this issue was handled sufficiently from within the company at the time it was discovered. Hopefully, this will be the last that we hear about this incident.

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