Did Bill Gates Said: Given a Chance to Start All Over Again

The claim: Neb Gates in one case gave a journalist a bare check to make a point almost taking opportunities

Bill Gates is no stranger to misinformation. The Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist has ofttimes been the subject of falsehoods online, specially conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, some social media users are sharing a story about Gates, one of the wealthiest people in the world, to make a point about taking opportunities when they arise.

"Nib Gates handed a blank check to a journalist telling her to write the amount of money she wanted," reads the explanation of a Sept. 30 Facebook post. "She became offended and responded: 'Mr Neb Gates, I'm not taking information technology. I asked you lot what is the secret to your success.'"

The mail, which accumulated more than than i,000 shares in five days, includes a photograph of Gates purportedly giving a television announcer a wrapped gift. The caption goes on to say the billionaire "handed her the bank check again, but she refused to have information technology."

"#BillGates told her, 'It's your terminal hazard, have it and put the amount you want,'" the caption says. "She didn't accept information technology. He ripped upwardly the check and replied: 'The secret to my success is that I don't miss any opportunity like you merely did.'"

The details of this purported interaction have been circulating online since at least 2019. But it didn't actually happen.

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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told Usa TODAY the merits in the post isn't true. The photo comes from an episode of a British Tv set mag show during which a co-presenter gifted Gates a coffee mug.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the claim for annotate.

Gates Foundation refutes claim, epitome shows souvenir for billionaire

The primeval version of the claim U.s. TODAY could find online appeared in a December 2019 Medium post from Sylvain Saurel, a cocky-described programmer and entrepreneur who runs a newsletter called "In Bitcoin We Trust."

"For several years at present, I have oftentimes read a story nearly Bill Gates and an interview he might have given to a announcer 1 24-hour interval," Saurel wrote before recounting a story similar to the ane in the Facebook mail service. "Actually, I practise not know if this interview really took identify or if it's just some kind of urban legend that was launched one day and has grown over time."

Saurel told USA TODAY in a Twitter message that "only Nib Gates and the announcer tin tell the truth most this."

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told U.s. TODAY the story is an urban legend subsequently all.

"This is an internet rumor that has been circulating for some fourth dimension and is not truthful," a spokesperson told Usa TODAY in an emailed statement. "I take verified that with Bill'southward private role."

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The photo in the post is a still from an Oct. 26, 2016, circulate of "This Morning" on ITV, a British free-to-air TV channel. During the broadcast, co-presenters Holly Willoughby and Ben Shephard interviewed Gates about his career and success every bit a business magnate.

Most the stop of the vi-and-a-one-half-infinitesimal interview, Willoughby presents Gates with a wrapped gift.

"Well this isn't a book, a picture or a puzzle," Willoughby says in the clip. "Merely we recollect it's a souvenir that money can't buy, and that's our little nowadays for yous."

Gates opens the gift to reveal a java mug with the "This Forenoon" logo on it.

"Money cannot buy that," Shephard says in the video.

Our rating: Simulated

Based on our research, nosotros rate FALSE the claim that Gates once gave a journalist a bare check to make a point about taking opportunities. The Gates Foundation told U.s.a. TODAY the merits isn't true. The image in the Facebook mail service comes from a 2016 circulate of a British Tv set mag show during which a co-presenter gifted Gates a java mug.

Our fact-check sources:

• U.s.a. TODAY, April 23, Fact check: Bill Gates is not trying to 'block the lord's day's rays' in the name of climate change
• USA TODAY, July 29, Fact check: Claim misleads virtually Melinda Gates' remark on African Americans, Native Americans
• U.s. TODAY, June 12, 2020, Fact bank check: Beak Gates is not planning to microchip the world through a COVID-19 vaccine
• U.s.a. TODAY, Aug. half dozen, Fact bank check: Bill Gates was not arrested past the United states armed services
• This Morning via YouTube, October. 26, 2016, Nib Gates Talks Dropping Out Of College And Reveals His Biggest Extravagance
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oct. 1 and Oct. xix, Emailed statements to U.s.a. TODAY
• Sylvain Saurel, Dec. 14, 2019, The Secret Behind Nib Gates' Success Is Inside Your Reach (archived)
• Sylvain Saurel, Oct. v, Twitter substitution with Us TODAY

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You tin can subscribe to our print edition, ad-gratis app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-bank check work is supported in role by a grant from Facebook.

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Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/10/20/fact-check-bill-gates-didnt-give-journalist-blank-check/5947631001/

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