Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Friday said that executives should not abuse the power they hold in their workplace. He said this during a CNBC show. Nadella's statement comes days after media reports stated that Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder allegedly tried to start an intimate relationship with an employee in 2000.
“Overall, the power dynamic in the workplace is not something that can be abused in any form, and the most important thing is for us to make sure that everybody is comfortable in being able to raise any issues they see, and for us to be able to fully investigate it,” Nadella told CNBC. Since Nadella's appointment as CEO, this is the first major controversy faced by the company.
According to reports, Bill Gates “pursued” several women in his office in 1994 despite being wedded to Melinda.
In one instance, following a presentation by a female Microsoft employee in 2006, Gates asked her out to dinner, the New York Times said. A few years later, another woman, who worked for the Gates’ philanthropic foundation, said that he asked her out during a work trip to New York.
According to a leading business journal, the Microsoft co-founder felt obliged to step down from the company board in 2020 because he was being investigated for a two-decade-old romantic relationship with a female Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate.
