Bulletins

Microsoft will publicly report on sexual harassment investigations into Bill Gates and others

The company has hired a law firm to compile a report on the status of sexual harassment investigations into company leaders and board members and plans to share the findings of the report with the public this spring.

Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates delivers a speech during the Global Investment Summit.

Microsoft's board will share a report with the results of investigations into Bill Gates and other company leaders.

Photo: Leon Neal/AFP via Getty Images

Microsoft will compile a report on the status of all sexual harassment and gender discrimination investigations at the company — including a board investigation into sexual harassment-related allegations against former CEO Bill Gates — and plans to publicly share the findings and recommendations in the coming months.

The report plan obeys a 2021 shareholder resolution — spearheaded by Arjuna Capital — that asked the company to review its policies for protecting people from sexual abuse, harassment and gender discrimination.

Attorneys at Arent Fox have been asked to summarize the results of all sexual harassment investigations at the company, determine what the company has done to hold people accountable for the findings of the investigations and compare Microsoft's policies to those of comparable companies. Microsoft's announcement also specified that the report would address the results of the company's investigation into Gates, who has been accused of allegedly conducting an inappropriate relationship with at least one subordinate at Microsoft.

Arent Fox has not represented Microsoft in significant matters in the past and has not helped represent Microsoft in employment cases, according to Thursday's press release.

Anna Kramer

Anna Kramer is a reporter at Protocol (Twitter: @ anna_c_kramer, email: akramer@protocol.com), where she writes about labor and workplace issues. Prior to joining the team, she covered tech and small business for the San Francisco Chronicle and privacy for Bloomberg Law. She is a recent graduate of Brown University, where she studied International Relations and Arabic and wrote her senior thesis about surveillance tools and technological development in the Middle East.

bill gatesmicrosoftsexual harassmentsexual assaultgendergender inequalityboard of directorsboardroom
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