Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday a Norwegian journalist never interviewed Bill Gates and a story published in an Oslo magazine was untrue, according to a UPI wire story.
“The interview never took place,” a Microsoft Norway spokesman told Norway’s leading business newspaper, Dagens Næringsliv.
Journalist Bjorn Benkow insists the interview is authentic, saying he interviewed Gates during a commercial flight in Europe, the Aftenposten newspaper reports. The Microsoft spokesman says Gates was not on that plane.
The interview appeared in Norway’s Mann men’s magazine and in a Swedish tabloid.
Mann planned to print an apology in its August issue. The tabloid Aftonbladet says it stands by the story.
The article quotes Gates as speaking favorably about rival Google and unfavorably about the European Union’s 13 years of antitrust actions against Microsoft. It also quotes Gates as saying he never carries more than a “dime” in his pocket.
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