Michael Larson, chairman of Cascade and manager of the tycoon's investments, in a 2016 image.David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
The investment firm Cascade held more than just the secret of Bill Gates' wealth. The company, a front name for Bill and Melinda Gates Investments (BMGI), has been key to multiplying the fortune of the Microsoft co-founder. Michael Larson, president of Cascade and manager of the tycoon's investments, faces accusations from a dozen former employees of creating a toxic work environment with misogynistic, racist comments and threats. At least four people who witnessed the alleged abuses, committed 15 years ago, alerted Bill Gates and his then-wife Melinda Gates to the conduct, says
The New York Times
in an investigation. Larson remained linked to the businessman until now, when these allegations come to light. Melinda Gates has condemned, through a spokeswoman, the disrespect and inappropriate comments in the office and said she was unaware of many allegations.
Gates hired Larson in 1994 to diversify his investments.
Since then the ties have been tightening.
The financier moved the investment firm shortly after to the state of Washington, on the west coast.
Specifically, he did it to the town of Kirkland, to a business park where Bill Gates and his now ex-wife have their personal offices.
Larson, a 61-year-old economist with a degree in business administration, has for years managed to buy shares to multiply the fortune of Gates, who created Microsoft in 1975 and who over the years has transformed his image into that of a philanthropic tycoon.
In almost 30 years his wealth has gone from 10 billion to more than 130 billion.
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This knowledge and experiences in investments were used against some of its employees, according to some testimonies collected by the American newspaper. Stacey Ibarra announced in 2004 that she was leaving Cascade after three years because of an offer from the InfoSpace company. When the employee, a 30-year-old African-American at the time, communicated her decision to Larson, she got an irate response. In the following days, the financier played with the stock market to depreciate the shares of InfoSpace. Several witnesses affirmed that the businessman confessed to having done it out of spite, something that a company spokesman has rejected. The pressure worked and Ibarra stayed. The abuse did not end there. In November, during election day that year,Larson made a racist comment to Ibarra when she said she had voted early in the morning: "You live in the ghetto and everyone knows that blacks don't vote."
That phrase was heard by several employees of the company. The complaint reached human resources and was subsequently referred to Bill and Melinda Gates, who were part of an internal investigation into Larson's conduct. Ibarra left the company in January 2005 after agreeing to sign a confidentiality contract that prevented her from talking about her time at the company. "When these allegations were made 15 years ago they were taken very seriously by BMGI," a Larson spokesperson told
The New York Times
.
Larson had among his preferred hires young people without work experience or in the early years of their career. Claremont McKenna University of California, where he graduated, was his favorite to receive new talent. In nearly three decades, Larson supervised more than 350 employees. The financier has ruled out having created a toxic culture in the office. "Calling it that way is unfair to the 160 professionals who work there every day," he said. However, some versions of his former employees remember him as a bully willing to make openly sexist comments to his employees and show images of naked women to his subordinates.
Gates' figure continues to fall.
In mid-May Microsoft admitted that it investigated at the end of 2019 an alleged infidelity of the businessman with one of his employees.
The romance allegedly played a role in the businessman leaving the chairmanship of the board of directors in March 2020. Gates and his wife Melinda announced their separation on May 3 after 27 years married, the same ones that Larson has worked for the genius of the computers.
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