Bill Gates and other top managers separated for their personal relationships

Like the CEO of BP, Bernard Looneywho resigned on Tuesday accused of dissimulating “personal relationships” with several colleagues, other large company bosses were forced to give up for similar reasons in recent years.

Bernard Looney at BP

British energy giant BP announced its resignation on Tuesday “with immediate effect” of its general director, Bernard Looney, accused of having hidden “personal relationships” with several colleagues from the company.

Looney, 53, who took office in 2020, acknowledged in an internal investigation “a small number of former relationships with colleagues before becoming CEO.”

However, according to the group, “new accusations of a similar nature appeared”which precipitated his resignation.

Bill Gates at Microsoft

In May 2021, the Wall Street Journal wrote that Bill Gates’ departure from the Microsoft group, in March 2020, was linked to a relationship considered “inappropriate” with a company employee in the early 2000s.

At the time of his departure, Gates, who founded Microsoft in 1975, declared that he was leaving the group’s board of directors to dedicate himself fully to his foundation.

However, in late 2019, the group acknowledged that it had been informed that Gates had ““tried to establish an intimate relationship with a company employee in 2000.”

In a letter, the woman, an engineer, stated that she had sexual relations with him “during years”detailed the WSJ.

Steve Easterbrook and McDonald’s

In November 2019, the American fast food giant McDonald’s forced its president, Steve Easterbrook, to leave the company following an affair with an employee, contrary to the group’s rules.

A year later, McDonald’s sued Easterbrook to recover tens of millions of dollars in severance pay it had paid him, accusing him of concealing other affairs.

In December 2021, Easterbrook agreed to repay the company more than $105 million.

Brian Krzanich at Intel

In June 2018, microprocessor maker Intel fired its CEO, Brian Krzanich, because he had had a relationship with an employee, which had been prohibited since 2011.

Intel explained that an investigation “carried out by internal and external lawyers” there was “rape confirmed” of company policy.

Laurent Potdevin at Lululemon

In February 2018, Laurent Potdevin, head of yoga clothing maker Lululemon, left the company after it was revealed that he had had a relationship with one of the company’s designers.

Lululemon and Potdevin reached an agreement and Potdevin left the company with a severance package of more than 33 million euros (about $35 million at current exchange rates).

Brian Dunn at Best Buy

The electronics sales group Best Buy announced in April 2012 the resignation of Brian Dunn, investigated for maintaining a “extremely close relationship with an employee.

“The CEO’s relationship with the employee illustrated extremely poor judgment and a lack of professionalism,” the company said about Dunn, who nevertheless left Best Buy with $6.64 million in his pocket.

Harry Stonecipher on Boeing

In March 2005, the Board of Directors of the aerospace group forced the resignation of Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher, who was then 68 years old, for an affair with a vice president of the group, Debra Peabody, twenty years younger than him.

Source: AFP