Top Microsoft exec resigns over VR 'pillow fight' porn accusations

Top Microsoft exec resigns after being accused of fondling women at work and watching lesbian pillow fight porn on VR goggles in front of stunned colleagues

  • Alex Kipman, 44, of Seattle, has resigned from his executive role at Microsoft
  • He will stay with the company during a two-month transition period, sources say
  • His resignation comes amid dozens of  complaints of sexual harassment
  • Kipman, one of Microsoft’s ‘golden boys,’ allegedly fondled female colleagues
  • He is also accused of watching ‘VR porn’ in the office in front of his co-workers 
  • Microsoft insiders alleged he has gone undisciplined for his actions 
  • CEO Satya Nadella vowed in 2014 to end the firm’s tolerance for ‘talented jerks
  • However, employees say they haven’t seen much change in company culture

One of Microsoft’s top executives has resigned amid allegations that he fondled female colleagues and watched virtual reality pillow fight porn in the office.

Alex Kipman, 44, of Seattle, announced his plans to resign on Tuesday in an effort to ‘pursue other opportunities,’ Microsoft insiders allege.

Scott Guthrie, VP of Microsoft Cloud and AI Group, is planning to reorganize the division. Sources familiar with the situation told Business Insider Kipman will stay with the company through a two-month transition process.  

Last month, Kipman, who has been described as one of Microsoft’s ‘golden boys,’ was accused of inappropriate behavior in a scathing Insider report detailing the company’s ‘toxic culture’ that protects its ‘untouchable’ male executives.

Several employees filed a complaint against Kipman last year for dozens of alleged occasions of inappropriate behavior, but the executive – who lives in a $7million Seattle home – has yet to punished for it. 

Witnesses allege the company instead provided him with ‘chaperones’ from human resources who accompany him during meetings. However, Microsoft has said those reports are ‘not true.’

Microsoft executive Alex Kipman (pictured in 2019) has resigned amid allegations that he fondled female colleagues and watched virtual reality pillow fight porn in the office

Company insiders allege Kipman notified his direct reports of his plans to resign on Tuesday. His boss, Guthrie, then issued an internal email detailing upcoming changes to the department. 

‘Over the last several months, Alex Kipman and I have been talking about the team’s path going forward. We have mutually decided that this is the right time for him to leave the company to pursue other opportunities,’ the email, which was obtained by Insider, reads.

‘I appreciate the tremendous vision Alex has provided to Microsoft over the years, and all that he has done to advance our Metaverse offerings. Alex is committed to helping the teams with the transition process over the next two months and ensuring success before pursuing what is next for him.’ 

Kipman was the lead developer of the company’s HoloLens smartglasses and the public face of its virtual reality initiative.

Company sources told The Seattle Times his departure comes during a ‘sensitive time’ for the HoloLens project because Microsoft is currently deciding whether to continue developing its own augmented reality software.

EVP and Chief Product Officer Panos Panay, who runs Microsoft’s Surface computer division, will oversee the HoloLens hardware moving forward, per Guthrie’s email.

Corporate VP Jeff Teper will take over the software part of the group.

DailyMail.com was unable to independently confirm the reports of Kipman’s resignation as Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kipman, who led the company’s HoloLens and virtual reality initiatives, announced his plans to resign on Tuesday in an effort to ‘pursue other opportunities’. He is pictured in March 2021 on a virtual stage as a ‘fully realized holoporation’ of himself in real-time

Sources familiar with the situation said Kipman will stay with the company through a two-month transition process. Kipman is pictured in a HoloLens promotional photo

Speculations rose that Kipman’s days at Microsoft were numbered after the Brazilian-born innovation executive came under fire last month when several former and current employees allegedly accused him of getting away with inappropriate behavior.

The sources cited actions that reportedly included inappropriately touching female coworkers and watching a ‘VR porn’ pillow fight in front of employees. 

The virtual reality video reported featured women dressed in skimpy outfits who were participating in a sexualized pillow fight. The sexual display was mirrored on nearby TV monitors for all the late-night employees to see.

‘It was in the office, in front of women. Incredibly uncomfortable,’ a source told Insider. 

Kipman has been married since 2001 and appears to have at least one child, according to his Facebook profile. He has not commented on the allegations.

Virtual reality porn allows viewers to feel as if they’re in a sex scene by donning special goggles. 

The company insiders said he video was just one of many instances that Microsoft employees had to deal with verbal abuse and sexual harassment from top-tier executives. Microsoft has refused to confirm or deny the sordid allegations.

Alex Kipman, 44, of Seattle, has been described as one of Microsoft’s ‘golden boys’ and allegedly has dozens of complaints of sexual harassments against him, including a time where he reportedly watched VR porn’ of skimpily-dress women pillow fighting. He is pictured in 2018 with his wife, Amanda, whom according to his Facebook profile he married in 2001

The Seattle-based employee has reportedly gone undisciplined for his actions 

The alleged ‘VR porn’ incident comes eight years after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella vowed to end the firm’s tolerance for ‘talented jerks.’ 

Nadella vowed in 2014 to extinguish the golden boys’ unlimited access to bad behavior, but current and former employees have said that changes have not been made. 

‘The gilding on the reputation of the culture change has worn off,’ a woman, who works closely with Nadella, told Insider last month. ‘It’s actually quite tarnished.’ 

Women only make up roughly 25 percent of Microsoft’s executives and dozens of women at the company have banned together in an email chain to discuss the gender discrimination and harassment they face, according to Insider. 

According to a 2015 lawsuit, women were allegedly paid less than men, were promoted less frequently and retaliated against by male managers when they complained, all due to Microsoft’s ‘lack of proper accountability to ensure fairness.’

‘Right now, women are all paid equally until the women who aren’t prove it,’ one of the emails reportedly read. 

The first plaintiff was Katherine Moussouris, a computer security researcher who worked at the company from 2007 to 2014.

She was later joined by two other Microsoft employees, Holly Muenchow and Dana Piermarini.

Scott Guthrie (pictured May 2019), VP of Microsoft Cloud and AI Group, is planning to reorganize the division in wake of Kipman’s resignation


EVP and Chief Product Officer Panos Panay (left), who runs Microsoft’s Surface computer division, will oversee the HoloLens hardware moving forward, per Guthrie. Corporate VP Jeff Teper (right) will take over the software part of the group

Moussouris told DailyMail.com in May: ‘It was a culture of testing women poorly with impunity and I think these revelations (about Gates) have shown that to the world.

‘Not only did he choose his wife from his employees, he chose to target several other women to fulfill himself with no consequences.

‘It felt like this culture flowed from the top and it was a culture of paying lip service to diversity and inclusion and not really supporting women in sexual assault claims or their career progression’.

Moussouris said she dropped the lawsuit after Microsoft tried to settle with her but she refused as she would have to sign a gagging order stopping her from speaking about it.

The 2015 lawsuit also alleged that Microsoft was described as a company where women were ‘ignored, abused, or degraded’ and male bosses ran a ‘good ol’ boy culture’ that ‘accepts and tolerates abuse and toxic behavior, especially towards females.’

Employees code-named a project ‘Wrecking Ball’ in honor of Miley Cyrus’ raunchy music video and wrote an email called ‘Working Backwards’ filled with stereotypes about women,’ the case claimed.

A 2015 lawsuit exposed female employees complaints that they were treated unfairly  

Employees were called ‘p****’ and c***’ and former chief executive Steve Ballmer was referred to as ‘our limp d*** CEO,’ the suit claims.

One woman complained about being asked by a male co-worker why she was ‘dressed like a wh**e’ while another man bombarded a woman with messages offering to ‘spank’ her.

Among the litany of incidents was a man who groped four women in a single night at a work function yet an internal investigation found he didn’t breach anti-harassment rules, writing it off as ‘poor interpersonal awareness.’

The lawsuit claimed: ‘The flagrant and repeated incidents of sexual misconduct toward women at Microsoft reflects the corporate culture in which women are undervalued and underpaid.’

The allegations in the case, which was dismissed only last November, will add to the discomfort of Microsoft executives who are reeling after the claims that Gates had a years-long affair with a Microsoft employee starting in 2000.

Reports last month said that during his time at Microsoft, Gates ‘pursued’ several female employees even though he was married to his estranged wife Melinda French Gates.

CEO Satya Nadella (pictured) vowed when he took the role in 2014 to extinguish the ‘golden boy’ culture that has reportedly been around since Bill Gates. However, employees say they haven’t seen much change 

Gates himself even had an affair with one of his female employees and fed into the culture that ‘talented jerks’ were untouchable  

Gates also allegedly had ‘men’s club’ style meetings with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and would vent to him about his ‘toxic’ marriage to French Gates, who filed for divorce earlier this month.

The lawsuit against Microsoft was filed in 2015 alleging a ‘policy, pattern and practice of sex discrimination against female employees’

However, Nadella has apparently created an entire HR team dedicated to gender-related claims since become CEO in 2014, but female employees say the investigations can take months or years before being resolved.   

In addition, Nadella – who has worked for the company since 1992 – did bring in a performance review program which rewards collaboration, hired a chief diversity officer, and handed out bonuses that connected to progress on diversity and inclusion. 

He also vowed that the ‘Microsoft of 2021 is very different from the Microsoft of 2000 to me and to everyone at Microsoft.’  

Kipman lives in a $7million home in Washington (pictured) that features four bedrooms and lots of greenery 

The space features a lot of countertops and amble space to entertain

It has an open concept layout, including a wide front door and several seating areas 

However, employees said the golden boy immunity goes back to the times of founder Bill Gates – who had an affair with an employee – and successor Steve Ballmer.

‘When they are golden, nothing can be done against them. The person believes they are untouchable and can do anything they want. You might as well swallow the abuse,’ a former executive told Insider. 

In November, shareholders demanded the company be more transparent and to stop concealing sexual misconduct within its ranks. In an overwhelming vote, shareholders said the company needed to publish the results of investigations into top executives and report on the effectiveness of their harassment policies.  

However, in January, Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard – a game developer that is being sued by the state of California for ‘frat boy’ culture that allowed female employees to be sexually harassed and discriminated against. 

Employees were angered by the decision, with one telling Insider: We can’t even take care of our own house, and now we just bought one in worse condition.’ 

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