In May 2021, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Microsoft's board had, in late 2019, retained an outside law firm to investigate a concern that Bill Gates had pursued an intimate relationship with a female Microsoft employee around the year 2000. Gates resigned from the Microsoft board in March 2020 while the review was underway, and also left the board of Berkshire Hathaway. A spokeswoman for Gates said the affair 'ended amicably' nearly two decades earlier and that his board departure was unrelated to the inquiry, attributing it to his wish to focus on philanthropy. The reporting, which followed the announcement of his divorce, also described accounts of Gates behaving inappropriately toward women in work settings — characterizations his spokesperson disputed.