{"id":387840,"date":"2026-04-08T09:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/387840\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:18:08","slug":"bill-gates-daughter-phoebe-gates-cops-backlash-over-embarrassing-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/387840\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Gates\u2019 daughter Phoebe Gates cops backlash over \u2018embarrassing\u2019 message"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Gates\u2019 daughter has once again been called out for an interaction with an online creator that has been branded by people online as a \u201cslap in the face\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Phia is an app and mobile browsing extension that aims to help shoppers find the best value for items online by comparing new and second-hand listings for the same and similar items.<\/p>\n

The business launched in April 2025 and is now valued at around $262 million ($US185m), boasting an impressive list of investors and advisers, including Kris Jenner, Spanx founder Sara Blakely, and media executive and former president of Honey, Joanne Bradford.<\/p>\n

Despite the company seemingly being off to a very lucrative start, California-based creator Kacie Margis has claimed Ms Gates reached out to her with a rather insulting offer.<\/p>\n

Ms Margis recently shared a screenshot of a direct message on Instagram that appeared to be sent from Ms Gates\u2019 account back in April last year.<\/p>\n

In the message, the business owner asked the content creator if she would be \u201cdown to collab\u201d ahead of the launch of Phia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still a scrappy start-up so budget\u2019s super limited,\u201d the message read.<\/p>\n

Ms Margis captioned the screenshot: \u201cWhen a billionaire\u2019s daughter says the budget is super limited and it\u2019s a \u2018scrappy little start-up\u2019 to try to pay me less than what my posted rates are.\u201d<\/p>\n

She claimed that Ms Gates found her on a website called Collabstr, where brands can book creators. On the site, Ms Margis is listed as lifestyle content creator, fashion model and fitness influencer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy rates are publicly listed on the platform, but instead of booking me there, she sent a private message trying to negotiate me down,\u201d she said, sharing a screenshot that listed a price of $250 for a 30-second video advertisement.<\/p>\n

News.com.au has reached out to Phia for comment.<\/p>\n

Ms Margis\u2019 post sparked a huge response, with people horrified by her claim that Ms Gates had contacted her directly in order to negotiate a lower rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is actually insane,\u201d one person said, while another branded it \u201cincredibly embarrassing\u201d and someone else called it \u201ca slap in the face\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow unprofessional on every level, starting with \u2018hey love\u2019,\u201d one person commented.<\/p>\n

Another added: \u201cThis is Bill Gate\u2019s daughter? She wants the by-the-bootstraps recognition all the while knowing she has one of the richest men on the planet to ask for help if she needs it. Gross.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a follow up post, Ms Margis said her post wasn\u2019t about calling out a single business owner for one message.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about a broader pattern: wealthy founders leveraging power and proximity to wealth to secure free or discounted labour,\u201d she said, adding that this is a \u201creality\u201d many creators face daily.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no personal issue with Phoebe and don\u2019t support people bullying her, even if I disagree with her business tactics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want people in positions of privilege to value creators.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Ms Gates has been publicly called out for an interaction with an online creator.<\/p>\n

Luxury brand deals expert, Jarrod Jenkins, called out Phia and it\u2019s founders last year<\/a>, claiming he was asked to work for \u201cfree\u201d to promote the business.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s talk about how Bill Gates\u2019 daughter disrespected me,\u201d Mr Jenkins said in a recent TikTok video.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Bill Gates\u2019 daughter reaches out to me, I don\u2019t know her, but she knows I am a luxury deal expert.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TikToker<\/p>\n

The creator shared a message seemingly sent from the Phia business page about a week before its launch.<\/p>\n

In it, the person sending the message explained \u201cmy company @phia.co is launching at the end of the month\u201d, before going on to say they \u201cwould love\u201d to give Mr Jenkins early access so that he can share his thoughts with his \u201ccommunity\u201d when the app goes live.<\/p>\n

Mr Jenkins claimed he was asked to do this \u201cfor free\u201d, noting that this is a service he would usually charge thousands of dollars for.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn\u2019t even subscribe to my Substack, that\u2019s $5 a month, $30 a year and they just signed up for the free tier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The creator then shared his response, in which he said that if he had been contacted \u201cwell in advance\u201d of the launch, he would have advised Ms Gates and Ms Kianni not to go live with the product.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually downloaded the app and it is absolutely worthless,\u201d Mr Jenkins said, claiming the app recommends entirely different products or products in a different condition to the one being searched.<\/p>\n

In his reply, Mr Jenkins offered to serve as an adviser for Phia moving forward, but claims he never received a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Gates\u2019 daughter has once again been called out for an interaction with an online creator that has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[172299,172285,8383,5873,961,172304,172282,321,41257,172280,172300,172289,172295,93,56018,172284,172286,161327,61,172302,60,172296,172293,172294,172297,172283,172288,172307,172292,172287,1071,172303,7891,151799,172290,172279,172291,172305,128871,66985,29239,172281,42835,172298,172301,172306],"class_list":{"0":"post-387840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-account-back","9":"tag-ally-foster","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-bill-gates","12":"tag-business-owner","13":"tag-business-page","14":"tag-by-the-bootstraps-recognition","15":"tag-celebrities","16":"tag-content-creator","17":"tag-copping-backlash","18":"tag-creator-claims","19":"tag-creators-face","20":"tag-daughter-reaches","21":"tag-entertainment","22":"tag-fitness-influencer","23":"tag-foreign-aid-budget","24":"tag-founders-leveraging-power","25":"tag-getty-images-inc","26":"tag-ie","27":"tag-influencer-shares","28":"tag-ireland","29":"tag-jarrod-jenkins","30":"tag-joanne-bradford","31":"tag-kacie-margis","32":"tag-lower-rate","33":"tag-luxury-brand","34":"tag-luxury-brand-strategist","35":"tag-luxury-deals-expert","36":"tag-media-executive","37":"tag-media-users-branding","38":"tag-microsoft","39":"tag-mobile-browsing-extension","40":"tag-north-america","41":"tag-northern-america","42":"tag-online-creator","43":"tag-patrick-mcmullan","44":"tag-private-message-trying","45":"tag-single-business-owner","46":"tag-social-media-users","47":"tag-sophia-kianni","48":"tag-stanford-university","49":"tag-tech-billionaire","50":"tag-united-states-of-america","51":"tag-value-creators","52":"tag-video-fee","53":"tag-wealthy-founders-leveraging"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}