Some of Microsoft’s board members concluded that Bill Gates should step down last year as an investigation was being conducted into an affair with an employee, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Gates ultimately resigned from the board in March 2020, which the WSJ says was before the investigation had been completed.

The board reviewed the matter and held a “thorough investigation” with the help of an external law firm, the software giant said. It didn’t reach a conclusion to the probe because Gates had stepped down before it was completed, Microsoft said.

“Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000,” Microsoft said in a statement.

“A committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm, to conduct a thorough investigation. Throughout the investigation, Microsoft provided extensive support to the employee who raised the concern,” the statement mentioned.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Microsoft's board had decided that Gates' involvement with the female employee was inappropriate and he needed to step down in 2020, citing people familiar with the matter.

The board also reportedly inquired about Gates’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, but “were told the relationship was focused on philanthropy and nothing more.”

A report in The Daily Beast, however, says Gates met Epstein dozens of times between 2011 and 2014, often seeking counsel about his marriage to French Gates. The New York Times also reports that Gates said he was unhappy in his marriage while in Epstein’s presence “on at least one occasion.”

Gates’ association with Epstein was a source of concern for Melinda French Gates, who hired divorce lawyers soon after reports of the pair’s interactions became public, according to the WSJ and the NYT. French Gates is also said to have been unhappy with how Gates handled a sexual harassment complaint against his money manager Michael Larson.

The NYT reports that after the woman who made the claims agreed to a settlement, French Gates called for an independent review of the allegations and the culture at Gates’ investment company. Larson was put on leave but later returned to the job; it’s not known whether the report cleared him.

“Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to the WSJ.

 “A committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm to conduct a thorough investigation. Throughout the investigation, Microsoft provided extensive support to the employee who raised the concern.”

Image: TWSJ