I Reboot

New Billionaire

REBOOT

On May 3, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates announced they were divorcing after 27 years of marriage. That same day, Gates’ Cascade Investment arm transferred $2.4 billion worth of stock in four companies (Canadian National Railway; car-dealership group AutoNation; Mexican Coke bottler Coca-Cola Femsa; and Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa) to French Gates; he also transferred $851 million in John Deere shares to her in mid-May. One of three living American women, as best as Forbes can determine, to attain billionaire status via divorce (Jeff Bezos’ ex, MacKenzie Scott, and Sue Gross, who was married to Pimco’s Bill Gross, are the others), French Gates stands to get more—potentially much more. The couple have asked a judge in Washington (a community property state in which most divorces are settled with a 50/50 split) to follow a separation agreement to split up Gates’ $126 billion fortune, which encompasses stakes in more than a dozen companies, including an estimated 1% stake in Microsoft, U.S. farmland, a $131 million home near Seattle and private planes. French Gates reportedly began consulting divorce lawyers in 2019 after her husband’s meetings with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein became public. Days after the divorce announcement, a spokeswoman for Gates acknowledged he had an affair with a Microsoft employee “20 years ago.” French Gates cofounded the $50 billion (assets) Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 before establishing Pivotal Ventures in 2015 to invest in social progress for women and people of color. “I tell my daughters to have their voice in this world, and it became clear I needed to role-model that,” she told Forbes at the time. Last year, with support from MacKenzie Scott, French Gates launched Equality Can’t Wait, an initiative offering $40 million in grants to women’s organizations throughout the U.S.

Déjà View BIG-DIGIT DIVORCES

Bill and Melinda French Gates aren’t the only members of The Forbes 400 to learn that yachtloads of money can’t buy a happy marriage. The 50 current richest Americans have gotten hitched 72 times in all, with 35 unions (49%) ending in divorce. Some billionaire marriages end amicably. Others, well . . .

BILL GROSS

The bond king’s 2016 split from his wife of three decades devolved into dueling restraining orders and a fake Picasso. Sue Gross reportedly got the 1932 painting “Le Repos”—except she allegedly already had it, having swapped it on Bill’s wall with a copy she painted herself.

TED TURNER

His decade-long marriage to Jane Fonda broke up in 2001, yet the Oscarwinning actress still calls Turner her “favorite ex-husband.” The media mogul speaks fondly of her, too. “When you love somebody, and you really love them,” Turner said in 2012, “you never stop loving them no matter how hard you try.”

HAROLD HAMM

The fracking tycoon wrote his ex-wife an astronomical $974,790,317.77 check from his Morgan Stanley account after their 2014 split. She pocketed her zillions, unsuccessfully tried to get more—and then funded a political action committee that helped unseat the judge who oversaw the divorce.

Retail Reimagined

There’s no going back: retail is heading towards a digital future and Microsoft is leading the way.

How are Microsoft solutions supporting retailers to digitally transform their operations? We are in the era of digital transformation, where businesses are embracing emerging technologies to revolutionize the way they work. Today, AI and machine learning are creating more intelligent businesses, the Internet of Things is offering companies new data points, and blockchain is delivering a new level of security and transparency across stakeholder networks.

These new tools and capabilities have been democratized by Microsoft Cloud. Now, retailers and consumer packed goods (CPG) companies can leverage our intelligent cloud to create data-driven organizations, boost efficiency, enhance customer personalization, and achieve greater revenue growth. Furthermore, we recently announced Microsoft Cloud for Retail, which offers a range of targeted solutions for the sector.

There was an e-commerce boom during the pandemic. What challenges did this create for your retail clients and how can AI help to overcome them? The COVID-19 pandemic is the new chief innovation officer for the retail industry. We witnessed years of e-commerce growth in just a few months, hitting penetration levels forecasted for 10 years from now. This growth requires retailers and CPG companies to humanize their digital experience, re-creating the magic of physical stores. This can be achieved through livestreaming and virtual ‘clienteleing’, as well as delivering more personalized, targeted marketing.

Most of these activities can be enabled via AI, machine learning, and advanced learning capabilities, all of which are facilitated by our intelligent cloud. In one example, U.A.E.-based retail conglomerate, AL Futtaim, leveraged the power of AI and advanced analytics to accelerate its hyper-personalization strategy to boost customer satisfaction and accelerate growth.

How can brick-and-mortar retailers use technology to become more competitive? Stores are going to play a more vital and diverse role, as customers increasingly demand a wider variety of services: buy online, click and collect, the list goes on. These services require a “phygital” world, that combines the best of physical and digital retail. For example, Switzerland’s largest retail company, Migros, is harnessing advanced technology to detect product freshness, quality, and stock. Doing so means the company can guarantee product quality, availability, and delivery on a continuous basis.

Supply chains, logistics, and delivery were heavily impacted during the pandemic. How can retailers utilize technology to remain resilient and profitable, even during challenging times? Supply chains need to be reimagined and re-designed on the principles of flexibility, transparency, and resilience, rather than cost and speed. We have seen retailers further localizing their supply chains and accelerating partnerships with logistics players to improve their last mile delivery and meet customer needs.

As for technology, AI and robotic process automation play fundamental roles in supply chain transformation. Starbucks is leveraging AI to create an integrated digital planning capability across the business, to reduce costs and increase the productivity. Using blockchain, the company has also enabled transparency across the supply chain, from bean to cup.

www.microsoft.com/ mea/industry