Bill Gates’ ex-wife Melinda French Gates once called Microsoft a ‘little company’. During an interview with LinkedIn in March 2025, French Gates shared that during internship at IBM, her hiring manager offered a job offer, but she had already interviewed at Microsoft. “My hiring manager at IBM, a female, said to me, ‘Okay, are you ready to accept the job offer?’ And I said, ‘Well, I have one more company to go interview—this little company, Microsoft. It was tiny,” French Gates said during the interview. “And she said, ‘If they give you an offer, you should take it’,” Gates recalled adding “And it dumbfounded me”. Melinda French Gates eventually joined Microsoft and went on to work at the company for nine years. During her time there, she played a key role in the company’s growth and rose to the position of general manager of information products. Her career at Microsoft also contributed significantly to her personal wealth. With an estimated net worth of $17.4 billion, French Gates currently ranks among the 10 richest women in the United States.
French Gates said transition to Microsoft wasn’t ‘easy’
During the interview, Gates recalled how moving to Microsoft which was on the West Coast means she had to uproot her life. “I didn’t know anybody in Seattle. It was moving to the West Coast, but I was so excited about what they were doing. I was like, ‘I want to be part of that,’” she said. Sharing advice for others, especially women, Gates said “I remind them all the time you can pivot careers. You can change. You can go over here. “It’s not like one or two paths that carry you forward, even though you had plans before this.”
About the Author
