Pitch #6

Pg. 151 – 180

• Gates, without any work to do, is “just a regular guy”. A CBS camera crew had filmed him carrying his luggage through Seattle’s Tacoma-International Airport and stopping at a Wendy’s for a cheeseburger and Diet Dr. Pepper
• in an interview with a well-known TV anchorwoman Connie Chung, although Gates was tired from his trip from Europe that morning, when Chung asked him to demonstrate, on camera, his trademark knack for jumping over a chair from a standing start, he reluctantly obliged. He also answered all irritating questions from Chung such as “Do you think you’re successful?”.
• when Gates was asked whether he considered himself to be a nerd, he answered, “If nerd means you can enjoy understanding the insides of a computer and sit in front of it for hours and play with it and enjoy it.”
• Gates has a reputation as a bully in the computer industry à Gates’s sensitive area
• when Gates visited China to lobby for better access to China’s emerging software market, he spoke his mind to reporters at a press conference in Beijing, scolding the Chinese government for preventing the marketplace from dictating software standards
• he was being his usual pushy and confrontational self
• during his visit to China, Gates offended just about everyone, including Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin
• Gates regarded all of the Far East (including China) as a potential gold mine for Microsoft
• Gates is quick to work on damage control