Latest news with #PhoebeGates
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
2025 Forbes Iconoclast Summit: The Business of Building Empires
| Jun 16, 2025, 04:13PM EDT Forbes EVP Moira Forbes is joined by Supermodel, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist Karlie Kloss, and Phia Cofounder Activist, and Philanthropist Phoebe Gates at the 2025 Forbes Iconoclast Summit in New York City.
Daily Mail
14-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Inside the glamorous life of Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe… who publicly mocks her dad's tech skills
Phoebe Gates is just like any other college grad - apart from the fact her dad is a tech billionaire, she founded an app with her best friend, and she regularly attends star-studded events wearing designer outfits. The 22-year-old Stanford University grad has lived a seemingly charmed life - growing up with unimaginable wealth as the daughter of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and ex-wife Melinda. The family grew up in a $131 million mansion in Medina, Washington, that came complete with seven bathrooms, 24 bathrooms, and six kitchens, as well as its own man-made beach, at-home movie theater, gym, and trampoline room. The property, worth an estimated $131 million, is nicknamed 'Xanadu 2.0,' a reference to the fictional estate in the movie 'Citizen Kane.' Her parents' wealth has provided a lavish lifestyle - complete with the finest education - and while older siblings Jennifer, 30, and Ryan, 25, have kept their lives more private, Phoebe hasn't shied away from the spotlight. Her Instagram regularly shows her attending glamorous events, including summits, talks and exclusive fashion events, often dressed by designer labels and dripping in expensive jewelry. But despite her Instagram-influencer persona, Phoebe - who previously interned with British Vogue - has been determined to forge her own path. 'Okay, I'm my parents' daughter, that gives me immense privilege, but it's not what I'm defined by,' she previously told WWD. The budding entrepreneur - along with former Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni - launched her own e-commerce startup app called Phia earlier in the year. The platform offers shoppers an easy way to compare the prices of new and used items across more than 40,000 selling sites. Despite her father's wealth, Phoebe raised the capital independently - first getting $100,000 from Soma Capital, then $250,000 from the Stanford social entrepreneurship grant, and finally $500,000 in angel investments, bringing the total to $850,000. Phoebe is the third child of Bill and Melinda Gates, who divorced after 27 years of marriage in 2001. Although her billionaire Microsoft co-founder-father provided her with a very comfortable childhood, she has admitted it has done more harm than good at times. Last year, Phoebe appeared on Netflix's new docuseries What's Next? The Future With Bill Gates. In the series, Bill asked his daughter if she had ever come across conspiracy theories about him - including that the COVID pandemic was a ploy to allow Bill Gates to put microchips in vaccines that would allow him to track people. 'All the time,' Phoebe responded. 'I've even had friends cut me off because of these vaccine rumors,' she said. While Bill is one of the richest people on the planet, ranked seventh in the world by Forbes, Phoebe keeps a close relationship with him. She often speaks about their bond and, despite her father's impressive background, she recently teased him about his lack of tech awareness in an Instagram post. 'Happy birthday, Dad! @thisisbillgates - my favorite person who now texts me to let me know he's going to send me an email,' she jokingly captioned a picture of herself with her dad. Bill has spoken previously about what will happen to his billions when he dies. In 2024, while speaking with fans on a Reddit Ask Me Anything, the Microsoft founder said that he thinks leaving his vast fortune to his three children would be a mistake. Instead, he plans to leave the majority to charity, including his own, The Gates Foundation. The tech mogul is shuttering the Gates Foundation by December 31, 2045, effectively ending a lifelong project to give away his multi-billion fortune. He announced earlier in the year that he plans to distribute 'virtually all' of his wealth, approximately $200 billion, within the next 20 years. The billionaire announced he will give away 99 percent of his immense fortune, leaving one percent for himself and his children. The Gates Foundation, which Gates founded in 2000 along with his ex-wife who left the organization after their divorce, pours billions of dollars every year into health, foreign aid and other public assistance programs. Gates will hold onto just one percent of his wealth - which still equals out to an estimated $1.62 billion. As for her personal life, Phoebe is currently dating Arthur Donald, the grandson of Paul McCartney, as per Nylon.
News.com.au
15-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Bill Gates' daughter, Phoebe Gates, under fire over ‘insulting' business message
Bill Gates' daughter has been publicly called out by a popular online creator and luxury brand expert over a 'disrespectful' message he received from her new business. Phoebe Gates, the youngest daughter of tech billionaire Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, recently started her own company, Phia, alongside her co-founder and former Stanford University roommate, Sophia Kianni. Phia is an app and mobile browsing extension that aims to help shoppers find the best value for items online. The idea is that, once shoppers have found the product they want to compare, Phia will scour the web and compare new and second-hand listings for the same and similar items. The app went live late last month and boasts an impressive list of investors and advisers, including Kris Jenner, Spanx founder Sara Blakely, and media executive and former president of Honey, Joanne Bradford. The 22-year-old Ms Gates and 23-year-old Ms Kianni have also been on a promotional spree, appearing on the well-known Call Her Daddy podcast, conducting an interview with Ms Jenner and receiving a profile in The New York Times. But not everyone is impressed with the new business venture, or with some of the ways Ms Gates and Ms Kianni are supposedly trying to ramp up publicity. A popular online creator and luxury brand deals expert, Jarrod Jenkins, has called out Phia and it's founders, claiming he was asked to work for 'free' to promote the business. Mr Jenkins describes himself as a luxury brand strategist and boasts over 54,000 followers on TikTok, where he talks about high-end fashion and often compares the prices of similar products. 'Let's talk about how Bill Gates' daughter disrespected me,' Mr Jenkins said in a recent TikTok video. 'So Bill Gates' daughter reaches out to me, I don't know her, but she knows I am a luxury deal expert.' The creator shared a message seemingly sent from the Phia business page about a week before it's launch. In it, the person sending the message explained 'my company @ is launching at the end of the month', before going on to say they 'would love' to give Mr Jenkins early access so that he can share his thoughts with his 'community' when the app goes live. Mr Jenkins claimed he was asked to do this 'for free', noting that this is a service he would usually charge thousands of dollars for. 'She didn't even subscribe to my substack, that's $5 a month, $30 a year and they just signed up for the free tier,' he said. The creator then shared his response, in which he said that if he had been contacted 'well in advance' of the launch, he would have advised Ms Gates and Ms Kianni not to go live with the product. 'I actually downloaded the app and it is absolutely worthless,' Mr Jenkins said, claiming the app recommends entirely different products or products in a different condition to the one being searched. In his experience, he found the app focused on the item description rather than the image and didn't include enough boutiques. In his response, Mr Jenkins offered to serve as an adviser for Phia moving forward, but claims he never received a response. 'Phoebe Gates and her co-founder Sophia aren't trying to sell an actual product, they are trying to sell vibes and business rizz,' he said. 'They want all the publicity, none of the work.' Mr Jenkins' video has been viewed more than 67,000 times and has gained hundreds of comments, with people unimpressed by Ms Gates' business tactics. 'Free is so wildly insulting. Why do rich people do this? Every regular, non-wealthy person I've ever worked for as a freelancer has compensated me,' one person said. 'For FREE?????? & her parents are WHO?!!??!??' another wrote. Many claimed this was stereotypical nepo baby and 'rich kid behaviour', while others were shocked at the 'audacity' of asking someone to work for free. One person wrote: 'I'm so tired of privileged kids entering the fashion space and not putting in the work or at least HIRING & PAYING people who will put in the work.' 'In this shaky economy, billionaire's daughter reaching out like this is so out of touch,' another added.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe, 22, sparks outrage with 'rich kid behavior'
Bill Gates ' daughter Phoebe Gates has sparked outrage with her 'rich kid behavior.' The 22-year-old Stanford University grad - along with former roommate Sophia Kianni - recently launched an e-commerce startup app called Phia. The platform, which went live on April 24, offers shoppers an easy way to compare the prices of new and used items across more than 40,000 selling sites. Phoebe is doing it all without the help of her billionaire father who recently revealed that he was 'worried' his youngest daughter would ask for money to start her new venture after cutting her inheritance. 'I thought, "Oh boy, she's going to come and ask,"' the Microsoft founder, 69, told the New York Times. 'And then I would have kept her on a short leash and be doing business reviews, which I would have found tricky, and I probably would have been overly nice but wondered if it was the right thing to do? Luckily, it never happened.' Instead, Phoebe raised the capital independently, first getting $100,000 from Soma Capital, then $250,000 from the Stanford social entrepreneurship grant, and finally $500,000 in angel investments, bringing the total to $850,000. But in a TikTok that is beginning to circulate, one content creator shared how she had apparently 'disrespected' him. The platform, which went live on April 24, offers shoppers an easy way to compare the prices of new and used items across more than 40,000 selling sites TikTok user Jarrod Jenkins is known for being a luxury deals expert and discusses high-end fashion news and history on his page. In a video posted on March 12, he claimed that Phoebe's business page reached out asking him to review the product and share his thoughts with his followers - for free. 'Mind you, this is a service that I would charge thousands of dollars for, and she didn't even subscribe to my Substack that's $5 a month, $30 a year,' Jenkins said, showing the message he had received. In a scathing response, Jenkins replied to the note to explain that had she reached out before the launch of the app, he would have advised her not to go live with the project yet. He then explained that Phia has some room for improvement, including the fact that it recommends entirely different products or products in a different condition than searched, focuses on the item description instead of the image and doesn't include enough boutiques. 'I actually downloaded the app and it's absolutely worthless,' Jenkins said. But he reached back out saying that he would serve as an advisor - to which he never received a response. Users on TikTok and Reddit slammed Gates, saying she was exhibiting typical 'rich kid behavior.' 'Phoebe Gates and her co-founder Sophia aren't trying to sell an actual product - they're trying to sell vibes and "business rizz,"' Jenkins claimed. He went on to discuss how much publicity the two are getting regardless, including an interview with Kris Jenner, appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, and profile in the New York Times. 'For FREE?????? and her parents are WHO?!!??!??' one TikTok user wrote in response to the claims. 'THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS AND CALLING THEM OUT,' another wrote. 'I'm so tired of privileged kids entering the fashion space and not putting in the work or at least HIRING and PAYING people who will put in the work.' And the backlash poured onto Reddit too, where someone posted a link to the TikTok under the r/NYCinfluencersnark thread. Users jumped to call Phoebe out for her stereotypical 'rich kid behavior.' Others even argued that despite her dad not investing, being the child of Bill Gates means already being set up for success, despite whether you are talented or not. 'Yes but having BILL GATES as your dad sure helps get Kris Jenner's attention, whether he gave her money or not...' one user wrote. 'Rich kids doing rich kid s**t,' another wrote. 'Pathetic.'
News.com.au
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe spills details about $97m estate
Bill Gates' daughter, Phoebe, lifted the lid on what it's like to introduce men to her billionaire father. Speaking to 'Call Her Daddy' host Alex Cooper, the 22-year-old said men are 'terrified' when they meet her 'socially awkward' dad. It's 'terrifying for the guy' to meet her 69-year-old dad at his $US63 million ($A97 million) Washington estate, said Phoebe, who is dating Paul McCartney's grandson Arthur. Although her former potential partners have been scared off by her father, Phoebe revealed that she finds the situation 'hilarious.' 'My dad's pretty socially awkward. It's so funny, ' she added. 'Like he's said before, he has Asperger's. So, like to me, it's so funny. But for guys, I think they get really wigged out'. She then recalled an 'embarrassing' story from her childhood. 'I'll never forget early in high school, before I had a long-term boyfriend, it was like one of my first dances, maybe my sophomore or junior year, and my mum had signed my dad up to drive me and the boy to the dance together,' she said. While they were driving, Phoebe revealed her father forced them to listen to NPR (National Public Radio) and then called the boy with his daughter the wrong name. '[I] literally wanted to die, but honestly, I think now, it's become easier for me because it's just funny when you introduce a guy to your dad, depending on how he reacts, that's how you know if he's going to be a good guy or not,' she said. She is able to joke about the situation because she's more of a 'people person' than her father, she said. 'It used to be a joke [that] our family would be so boring if I wasn't born. I had forced my dad, like at the dad-daughter dances my mum would have us go to, I would force my dad to go talk to all the other dads and daughters there. I was like, 'No. If we're here, we're going to socialise. We've got to work this room, Bill.'' However, Phoebe — who met Arthur during a collaboration event with Stella McCartney and has been dating him for two years — confessed that there is one thing worse than men meeting her dad: Playing a game with him. 'You do not want to play a board game with the two of us, and that's actually worse than introducing a guy to my dad,' she said, branding the two of them 'very competitive.' Phoebe's confession comes less than one month after he revealed the exact percentage of his wealth he plans to leave to his three children, explaining that their inheritance will be less than 1 per cent of his extraordinary $US152 billion ($A234 billion) fortune, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The Microsoft founder opened up about his feelings around inheritance during an appearance on Raj Shamani's podcast, ' Figuring Out ', when he was asked whether he believes it is a parent's duty to 'save everything for their kids.' Gates said the debate about inheritance comes down to the opinions of the individual parent. However, he said it wouldn't do his children any 'favours' to make them feel as though they were expected to carry on some kind of 'dynasty.' 'Everybody gets to decide on that. In my case, my kids got a great upbringing and education but less than 1 per cent of the total wealth,' he explained. 'I decided it wouldn't be a favour to them [to leave them more]. It's not a dynasty. I'm not asking them to run Microsoft.' Of course, 1 per cent of $US152 billion ($A234 billion) is hardly chump change, and would leave each of Bill's three kids — Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe — with around $US1.52 billion ($A2.3 billion) each, provided they get their own percentage cut of his fortune. What Gates did not elaborate on is how his wealth will be passed down. Because while the centibillionaire has plenty of bucks in the bank, he also has an array of other high-value assets, including pricey properties across the U.S. At the heart of that property portfolio is Xanadu 2.0, the Washington state compound named for the fictional estate in the movie 'Citizen Kane.' According to Realtor, Gates began building the place in 1988, years before he wed his former wife, Melinda. Located in the Seattle suburb of Medina, Washington State, the compound features amenities, including an advanced security system that can detect who is in the residence by the weight of their footsteps thanks to the pressure-sensitive floors. The Microsoft founder originally purchased the property on which Xanadu 2.0 now sits for $US2 million and then poured an estimated $US63 million into renovating it, turning the home into an ultra-modern oasis fit for a tech titan. The home is now believed to be worth an eye-watering $US130 million ($A207 million) according to Fortune.
