Microsoft: the departure of Bill Gates would be linked to a relationship with an employee

The final departure of Bill Gates from the Microsoft group, in March 2020, would be linked to a relationship deemed "inappropriate" with an employee of the company in the early 2000s, according to information published Sunday by the

.

The founder and former leader of the IT giant left his seat as a director of the group in March 2020.

This affair "ended in a friendly manner", according to a spokesperson

Microsoft's board members had decided that Bill Gates should step down from his board in 2020 as they investigated the billionaire's relationship with a Microsoft employee who was deemed inappropriate, "according to the economic daily, citing sources familiar with the matter.

It is about "an affair dating from 20 years ago which ended in a friendly way", according to a spokeswoman for Bill Gates, quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

He left Microsoft to be able to invest full time in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she said, as was then specified.

The former Microsoft boss and his wife Melinda, who together created this foundation fighting against poverty and disease 20 years ago, announced their divorce on May 3, after 27 years of marriage.

A committee of the board of directors examined the problem

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to AFP that the group was informed at the end of 2019 that "Bill Gates sought to establish an intimate relationship with an employee of the company in 2000. A committee of the board of directors examined the problem, assisted by an external law firm, to conduct a thorough investigation. " This engineer of the group had affirmed, in a letter, to have maintained a relation of a sexual nature with Bill Gates "for years", details the Wall Street Journal, specifying that the resignation had taken place before the end of this investigation.

Also according to the

, the members of the board of directors had also inquired about the links between Bill Gates and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, prosecuted for trafficking in minors. The defense of Bill Gates assured that it was about "philanthropic relations", which he had "regretted", underlines the daily newspaper.