Filthy Rich?
Disclaimer: I am not even 1% of what this man is and has achieved in his life. The only purpose of this blog is to make you all aware of the dirty practices of these billionaires. He is one of my inspirations and I truly respect him for what he has done.
The beginning of the tech boom of the 2000s started with people alleging Mr. Gates with having several extra marital affairs. It is believed that some women working with Microsoft had filed complaints with state police against Bill Gates for sexually assaulting them. It is believed that one of the major reasons why Bill and Melinda underwent a divorce were his affairs. In the year 2019, Melinda Gates wrote a book in which she smartly highlighted this argument. She pointed out that the idea and initial brain behind the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation was Melinda herself. Yet, for a long time period, Melinda was kept in the background, using Bill's face as a brand. Bill was very careful about his reputation and wanted to build a certain image about him in everyone's head after all the allegations that his female employees had filed against him.
In the late 90's, people started calling him a womanizer and a sex offender, considering Bill and Paul Allen's (co-founder of Microsoft) interest in women apart from work. An article by one of the reputed media agencies, which Bill bought afterwards, mentioned that Paul Allen and Bill used to visit strip clubs after every successful launch that Microsoft undertook. We know how media likes to add spices to their stories, and considering a story on one of the youngest billionaires, they surely would have gone the extra mile. Whatever the case, the media was successful in building a negative image about Bill, to which the crowd responded positively. The volcano about Bill's image busted when his pictures with an infamous businessman called Jeffery Epstein went viral. I won't talk about Jeffery Epstein. For context, Jeffery Epstein was found guilty as a sex offender in the year 2008 and had exploited 36 girls. He is the guy behind Epstein Island. The media went crazy when Bill was spotted with Epstein. Bill had admitted his meetings, saying that he wanted to get consultation regarding running a business. Why would a guy running an empire worth billions consult a man who runs a business with a few million dollars of revenue? This case was shut down in a matter of weeks, and Bill Gates was given a clean chit. His ex-wife was a bit furious, as she once showcased her anger in an interview that she gave long back.
Another thing that Mr. Gates is famous for is his love for ethics while running a business. He has been very vocal about his views on ethical business practices and associating himself with ethical people. People who he can trust and rely on. Well, here's another example of hypocrisy. From the beginning of the 2000s, Bill always knew that real money is worth more than paper money. And when it comes to managing money for billionaires, it is better to have someone you can trust. If you look at Mr. Gates holding in Microsoft, it has been on a decreasing trend since the day Gates listed Microsoft. He started liquidating his billions and hired a person called Michael Larson. Michael Larson is the person who was deciding how to manage Gates's billions when he was busy coding. Michael Larson was alleged with sexual assault back in the 2000's. He was found guilty in 2017 as well, but Bill Gates asked his lawyers to get him out. He paid a lot of fines and cleared his name from the case.
By the end of 2019, the #MeToo movement was gaining momentum, and one of the rich and famous personalities that was alleged with an attempt to assault was Mr. Bill Gates. A few weeks after the allegation, Bill and Melinda filed for divorce. Every in the 2000s, when Gates was alleged with a similar case, he stepped down as a CEO of Microsoft and started managing his philanthropy. Similarly, when he was alleged in another case, he gave up his position as CEO and appointed someone else. Many female workers in the past have also complained about the questions asked to them in interviews for positions that were directly falling under Gates. This practice of undertaking special interviews of female employees by the CEO was also something that fraudster Vijay Mallya practiced.
You might think that after so many gruesome allegations, how is it that his reputation is still intact? How is it that every second person considers him an inspiration? Why do you think prestigious universities like Harvard and Stanford have given him a complementary doctorate? It is for the same reason why Indian media ignores the list of the top 10 highest taxpayers. The reason being that these businessmen directly or indirectly control the media houses. Bill Gates approximately spends Rs 830 crore every year on media as "donations." These donations are directed to media houses like CNBC, CNN, The Guardian, etc. His donations are not just limited to the US. He spends an undisclosed amount of money as "donations" to France and German media as well. Why on earth will I talk about Bill Gates and his gruesome activities when I am getting Rs 830 crore in "donations"? Through his donations and his PR activities, he has managed to build and maintain his reputation as an inspiration and a donor.
Another interesting story dates back to the 90's. In the year 1998, the US Department of Justice received a lot of complaints from Microsoft competitors that Bill's way of doing business was unfair and unethical. The competitors dragged Bill Gates and his Microsoft in the courtroom. Being a young blood with a hyper mind and angry behavior, he unknowingly disrespected a few officials, and hence, Microsoft was alleged with anti-trust violations and were determined to break his monopoly, leaving Microsoft with a micromarket share. Bill had a powerful bunch of lawyers defending him, and the only solution to this problem was appointing a new CEO for the company. Hence, in the midst of the tech boom, Bill Gates resigned as the CEO of Microsoft. Steve Ballmer took the position, and Bill Gates started working on ideas to polish his damaged reputation. He understood that people like it when a billionaire spends a big chunk of money on taxes or charity. Taxes were too expensive to impress people, and hence the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation was formed. Rockefellers and Carnegies have tasted what Bill had tasted in the year 1998, and surprisingly, they took the same route.
Apart from forming the philanthropic foundation, Bill also spent roughly Rs 2400 crore on PR and reputation. May it be buying stakes in media houses or writing biographies, he left no stone unturned. His "donations" were working wonderfully as newspapers that were targeting him as a cunning businessman some 18 months ago were suddenly inspired by his philanthropic ventures and were calling him the most loveable businessman and the most charitable man on earth. When Paul Allen, the same guy who helped Bill build Microsoft, was fighting his war against cancer and was about to lose the battle, Bill proposed to his board of directors to dilute his equity and bought back the shares at lower rates. Why do you think Paul's stake in Microsoft went down to 5% in 2000 from 25% in 1998?
His PR team has been successful in portraying him as a man who started off in a garage with nothing and is now worth billions. He did start off in a garage and does have a lot of billions, but the story that is narrated and what actually happened is completely different. Mary Gates, his mother, was the person who provided him the required start. She was a social worker and was sitting on various boards of charitable organizations. Another interesting personality who accompanied her on various boards was a man who was a member of the IBM board of directors. Mary Gates asked the IBM guy to try Bill's services, and hence, considering their relationship, the IBM guy asked Bill and Paul to build the DOS. Bill went out and bought a struggling startup and presented his product as MS DOS. His father was a big philanthropist and a lawyer as well. He helped him setup his business, fulfilling all the legal formalities.
Bill was one of the luckiest people in America in the 60's. He was white, he was male, he lived in Seattle, he had access to private schools, his parents had a lot of money and connections, and most importantly, he got access to computers in an era when only 20 computers were available in the entire US. It would be wrong to say that the roads were paved for Mr. Gates because roads were paved for Anil Ambani and Vijay Mallya as well. All he has done is that he has taken advantage of his family connections and has worked tremendously hard to build a $3 trillion company. Undoubtably and unquestionably, he is one of the most respected and influential personalities out there because, believe it or not, building and running a trillion-dollar business is not a piece of cake. Today, Bill has honorary doctorates from 7 universities. He holds the position of an independent director on various boards, including Berkshire Hathaway. He spends roughly $15 billion a year on charitable causes, excluding his media donations. He and his team have been successful in making India a polio-free country. A few thousand students are direct beneficiaries of his scholarships. Judging someone for a few mistakes when he/she has such a commendable track record is unfair. But the allegations are pretty serious.
I will leave it up to you to judge him the way you want to. We all have our opinions, and I still do consider him one of my inspirations, at least when it comes to reading books. No one else inspires me to read more than Charlie Munger and Bill Gates. Lastly, I would like to end this blog with a small anecdote. Bill Gates, through his investment vehicles, owns a lot of pharma companies. In the year 2015, he gave a talk on TEDx where he was talking about the next pandemic. In the year 2019, Bill Gates met China's president, Xi Jinping, who said that Bill Gates is his only American friend. One of the major beneficiaries of the COVID pandemic were companies like Pfizer, in which Bill Gates owns a substantial stake. Was COVID a black swan event or a man-made pandemic? Remember what Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "There is an optical illusion about every person we meet."
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