Bill Gates’s Carefully Crafted Image Is Cracking
6/9/202624 min
For years, Bill Gates was best known for his charitable work. The Gates Foundation spends billions on humanitarian efforts around the world. At one point, Gates was ranked as the world’s most admired man. But as details surface about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, that carefully crafted image is eroding. WSJ’s Emily Glazer reveals the lengths that Gates’s team has taken in order to burnish his reputation, and how it’s slowly cracking. Jessica Mendoza hosts. Further Listening:
- How Jeffrey Epstein Made Millions From His Connections
- The Growing Fallout From the Epstein Files Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJessica Mendoza· Host0:00
[music] In the months since the Justice Department released the so-called Epstein files, some powerful people have lost their jobs and their credibility as a result of their relationships with him. But for a long while, it seemed that one important person who was not tarnished was Bill Gates.
Emily Glazer· Guest0:21
Bill Gates is one of the wealthiest people in the world. He's one of the most influential people in the world.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:26
That's our colleague, Emily Glazer, and she's been covering Bill Gates for years.
Emily Glazer· Guest0:31
Why hasn't Bill Gates' reputation just collapsed? [music] Like, how is he still doing all these interviews and speaking at conferences when we had seen one by one other powerful people tied to Epstein resign, lose their jobs, getting investigated by international governments? How is Bill still kinda like doing his thing?
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:54
And why does it matter? Why should we care about Bill Gates' reputation?
Emily Glazer· Guest0:59
His reputation matters because that is the thing holding a lot of his whole infrastructure together. That is why people still continue to meet with him, why he has influence over policy, why people want his money. I've talked to someone recently who said, "When you say it's tied to Bill Gates, the answer's almost automatically yes."
Jessica Mendoza· Host1:21
Mm-hmm.
Emily Glazer· Guest1:21
And I think a lot of people don't even realize how much influence and power he has because it's so carefully crafted and controlled.