$ cat ./records/gates-kept-an-annual-beach-getaway-with-his-ex-girlfriend-ann-win-1997.txt
Gates Kept an Annual Beach Getaway With His Ex-Girlfriend Ann Winblad During His Marriage
[RECORD.TXT] · cat --full
A 1997 TIME profile by Walter Isaacson revealed that, even after marrying Melinda in 1994, Bill Gates maintained a tradition of spending one long weekend each spring with his former girlfriend — software entrepreneur and venture capitalist Ann Winblad — at her beach cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where, Gates said, they walked the beach, rode dune buggies, and talked about the future. Gates said Melinda was comfortable with the arrangement, and that before proposing to Melinda he had asked Winblad's blessing. (Contrary to later viral claims, it was not a clause in a 'marriage contract.') The unusual arrangement drew renewed attention after the Gateses announced their divorce in 2021.
Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bill-gates-vacation-ex-girlfriend/
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1990s
Gates keeps a collection of rare and classic cars
Despite his reputation for frugality in some areas, Bill Gates has long indulged a passion for cars, assembling a collection that has included several Porsches — among them the 911 he has owned for decades and the storied 959 — as well as other classics. His automotive tastes, and the saga of importing the then-illegal 959, are among the more colorful footnotes of his personal life.
1990s
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For years Bill Gates retreated twice a year to a secluded cabin for a solitary 'Think Week,' during which he read stacks of papers, books, and employee proposals with no interruptions, emerging with strategic memos that shaped Microsoft's direction. The ritual became famous as a model of deep, focused thinking by a busy executive, and was credited with helping spark major pivots — including Microsoft's embrace of the internet. Gates carried the habit of voracious, deliberate reading into his philanthropy.
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