Bill Gates leaves Nobu with a doggie bag following dinner with ‘daughter Phoebe and her boyfriend’

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Bill Gates was pictured leaving Nobu in New York City on Saturday evening following his first public outing since announcing he and Melinda were divorcing. 

The billionaire Microsoft founder enjoyed dinner at the exclusive Manhattan eatery with a woman believed to be his daughter Phoebe and her boyfriend Chaz Flynn.  

They had all arrived into Newark Airport in New Jersey on Friday. The group then boarded a helicopter and Gates was spotted heading to lunch with his pals in Manhattan the following day.

Gates, 65, had entered the restaurant in typically casual attire, sporting an unshaven beard and wearing a polo shirt, black pants, with a jersey wrapped around his waist and mask dangling from his wrist. 

He was still wearing his wedding ring.  

The father and duo – flanked by a a large security presence – later emerged both wearing their masks. Gates still had his grey jersey wrapped around his waist but had wrapped up in a navy sweater. 

He appeared to taking home a doggie bag of their leftover dinner.  

The young woman, thought to be Phoebe, wore a brown polkadot one piece mini-dress with and a jewel-encrusted purse.    

Bill and Melinda, 56, shocked the world earlier this month when they announced they were divorcing after 27 years together. The couple have three adult children: Jennifer, 25, Rory, 21, and Phoebe. 

Jennifer did not appear to be with her father, but was seen competing in a horse show in New York on Thursday.

Since news of the split broke, Gates has been rocked by claims of inappropriate behavior during his time at Microsoft as well as questions surrounding his friendship with late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. 

Prior to his arrival into Newark, he was thought to be holing up at an exclusive golf club in California where he owns a mansion.

Two weeks on from the divorce announcement, Gates first came out of hiding as he landed into Newark Airport Friday.

He was seen disembarking his private jet, sporting a grey long-sleeved polo, dark trousers and his signature dark-rimmed glasses. 

Gates headed down the steps maskless before putting on a matching grey check face mask as he reached the tarmac.  

The father-of-three had something of an entourage with him including a teen thought to be Phoebe, who looked ready for the late spring sunshine in a dazzling red crop top and skirt co-ord. 

The formerly blonde 18-year-old had her dark hair tied back and donned a white face mask and sneakers. 

She was followed closely behind by a young male in a white hoody, thought to be her boyfriend Chaz.

The young couple are thought to have started dating in mid-2019 and Phoebe often shares images of them together on her Instagram.

The trio were also joined by a brunette woman dressed in dark office wear and carrying a large briefcase and a white-haired man in glasses, a check shirt and a bodywarmer. 

The group then headed across the tarmac toward a helicopter.  

Then on Saturday, Gates sported black dress socks with sneakers and shorts, paired with a casual grey polo shirt as he walked to lunch with his companions.

Gates hasn’t been seen in public since he and Melinda announced their split back on May 3, other than to appear at a virtual event with the US Chamber of Commerce Wednesday.

The 65-year-old was also seen sporting his wedding band during that appearance. 

It was not clear where he was during the Zoom call but he is understood to have been staying at the exclusive golf complex The Vintage Club in Indian Wells, California, for the last three months.  

The Vintage Club costs $250,000 to join. It boasts a spa, restaurants and two 18-hole golf courses, dubbing itself ‘one of the United States’ most prestigious’ golf clubs.

Other members include Charles Koch and Dennis Washington.

Gates bought a home there in 1990 for $12.5 million. That is said to have six bedrooms and nine bathrooms.   

Melinda and Bill have given no details about their split, but Melinda wrote that the marriage is ‘irretrievably broken’ in divorce filings.  

She is said to have began consulting divorce lawyers as far back as October 2019. 

While they have both kept a low profile since the split, the couple’s 25-year-old daughter Jennifer was seen competing in a horse show in New York on Thursday.  

The keen equestrian took home the second place prize in her first competition at Old Salem Farm in North Salem, New York, in addition to a  the third place prize in her second competition. 

Jennifer has also shown public support for both of parents in recent weeks. She posted a photo on Instagram on Mothers’ Day with her mom and siblings writing: ‘Our queen, hero and mom- every day.’ 

She also shared an Instagram story of herself posing with her billionaire father writing about ‘quality time with family members.’

Since announcing their divorce, Gates has transferred more than $3billion in stock to Melinda.

In a move divorce experts say is highly unusual, Melinda has added top trust and estate lawyers to her legal team as the couple divide their combined $130billion in assets after 27 years of marriage. 

Over the years Gates has repeatedly said that he would leave the children a mere $10million apiece – accounting for less than .008 percent of their parents’ total wealth. 

Gates has been rocked by a series of allegations ever since he and Melinda, 56, announced their divorce earlier this month. 

It emerged this week that he had an affair with a female Microsoft worker back in 2000 while he was married to Melinda.   

The Wall Street Journal revealed he had an ‘inappropriate’ sexual relationship with a female staff member in 2000.

Gates was CEO of the company at the time. It is not clear what position or level of seniority the employee was. 

The affair stayed a secret until 2019 when the employee wrote a letter to the board detailing what had happened and allegedly asking that Melinda read it. 

The company opened an investigation into the claims. 

While the investigation was still ongoing in March 2020, Gates shocked the business world by announcing he was resigning from his position on the company board.      

The same day Gates stood down from the board of Berkshire Hathaway, run by his friend Warren Buffet. 

Gates’ spokeswoman confirmed this week he had an affair almost 20 years ago with a staff member and that the relationship ended ‘amicably.’

She denied the affair was connected in any way to his abrupt departure from the board. 

His behavior at Microsoft has come under closer scrutiny with claims from two female employees that he asked them out on dates and questions around the handling of accusations of sexual harassment against one of his closest aides.  

Gates is said to have pursued several women working at Microsoft while he was married to Melinda.

The New York Times reported two separate instances where he asked female employees out on dates.  

In one case, he is said to have asked out a Microsoft employee in 2006 after watching her make a presentation. 

‘If this makes you uncomfortable, pretend it never happened,’ Gates emailed the employee, according to the Times. The woman took his advice and pretended it never happened.

A couple of years later, Gates then asked out an employee with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The pair were in New York for a work trip, when he told her: ‘I want to see you. Will you have dinner with me?’

The woman told the Times the approach made her feel uncomfortable, but she laughed it off. There was no expectation that the women would suffer professional repercussions for spurning Gates’ advances, the Times reported.

It’s not clear whether Melinda was aware of her husband’s advances on other women.   

However, she was aware of and unhappy with the handling of sexual harassment allegations against Michael Larson, one of Gates’ key lieutenants and the manager of his personal fortune, the report said.  

In 2017, a person wrote to Bill and Melinda to complain that Larson was harassing a female staff member at a bicycle shop part-owned by a venture capital firm Rally Capital, owned by the former married couple. 

The woman reached a settlement in 2018, signing a non-disclosure agreement and receiving a payout. 

Gates’ spokeswoman Bridgitt Arnold denied Gates ever mistreated employees in a statement to the Times. 

However, Melinda was reportedly unhappy with the outcome and ordered an independent investigation. 

According to the New York Times, Larson was placed on leave during the investigation but was reinstated and still looks after Gates’ vast fortune.   

‘It is extremely disappointing that there have been so many untruths published about the cause, the circumstances and the timeline of Bill Gates’s divorce,’ Arnold said. ‘Your characterization of his meetings with Epstein and others about philanthropy is inaccurate, including who participated.  

‘The claim of mistreatment of employees is also false. The rumors and speculation surrounding Gates’s divorce are becoming increasingly absurd, and it’s unfortunate that people who have little to no knowledge of the situation are being characterized as ‘sources.’     

Melinda reportedly began consulting divorce lawyers as far back as October 2019. She did so around the same time as Bill’s friendship with billionaire pedophile Epstein hit the headlines.   

The two men’s friendship began in 2011, three years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.  Gates continued to spend time with Epstein despite Melinda reportedly expressing concerns. 

There is no suggestion that Gates did anything wrong.  

While allegations of inappropriate behavior continue to swirl round Gates, new details have also emerged about the culture inside the tech behemoth he set up in 1975.

DailyMail.com revealed this week new details of a Microsoft discrimination lawsuit filed in 2015, where women claimed they were ‘ignored, abused, or degraded’ and male bosses ran a ‘good ol’ boy culture’ at the company.

The suit claimed that Microsoft ‘accepts and tolerates abuse and toxic behavior, especially towards females.’

Employees code-named a project ‘Wrecking Ball’ in honor of Miley Cyrus‘ raunchy music video and wrote an email called ‘Working Backwards’ filled with stereotypes about women,’ the case claimed.  

Employees were called ‘p****’ and c***’ and former chief executive Steve Ballmer was referred to as ‘our limp d*** CEO,’ the suit claimed. 

One woman complained about being asked by a male co-worker why she was ‘dressed like a wh**e’ while another man bombarded a woman with messages offering to ‘spank’ her.

Among the litany of incidents was a man who groped four women in a single night at a work function yet an internal investigation found he didn’t breach anti-harassment rules, writing it off as ‘poor interpersonal awareness’.

The lawsuit claimed: ‘The flagrant and repeated incidents of sexual misconduct toward women at Microsoft reflects the corporate culture in which women are undervalued and underpaid’.