Ask anyone whether they would like a billionaire to adopt them and, in most cases, the answer would be yes. But would they want to accept the baggage that comes with those titles? Probably not. The latest example is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’s youngest daughter, Phoebe, facing backlash over her negotiations with a fashion influencer. The 23-year-old co-founder of AI shopping tool Phia approached content creator Kacie Margis, who was not exactly content with the Stanford graduate’s haggling tactics.
In fact, setting aside the internet’s reflexive bias against billionaires, what happened was simply a co-founder without backing from her billionaire parents attempting to book an influencer for a job with her company for less than her $250 rate. Yes, Bill Gates is a billionaire worth billions, but Phoebe is not Bill, nor does she come with the backing of Microsoft money. The internet simply could not stomach an heiress who may one day receive 1 percent of her father’s fortune, which could still mean hundreds of millions, but that day is not today.
Right now, Phoebe and Sophia Kianni are trying to make their startup, Phia, work. The AI-powered fashion platform is focused on sustainability and conscious consumerism. In fact, the very idea behind Phia is built around smart shopping, comparing prices across more than 40,000 retail and secondhand sites. If she works every day to help others find a better deal, why the uproar if she herself is trying to get one?
The duo has attracted serious investors and endorsements, including praise from Kris Jenner and Hailey Bieber, and raised significant funding for the venture. But a businesswoman is allowed to negotiate, and that is exactly what Phoebe did. The proof lies in the screenshot of an apparent Instagram direct message from Phoebe, shared by Margis. It was reportedly sent a year ago, in April 2025, which also raises a fair question: why share it now? Perhaps the influencer, who has 42,000 followers on Instagram, is looking to grow her numbers after the missed opportunity of working with Gates.
The model took to Threads to share her frustration, “When a billionaire’s daughter says the budget is ‘super limited’ and it’s a ‘scrappy little startup’ to try to pay me less than what my posted rates are.” Phoebe Gates’s message read, “Hey love! I came across your profile on Collabstr and I’m such a fan of your content. I’m the founder of @Phiaco, we’re launching at the end of this month (!!) and I’d be sooo honored if you’d be down to collab and help share. We’re still a scrappy startup so budget’s super limited, but we’d still work if you’re open,” the message continued, in part. “Feel free to send your rates.”
Words like fan, honored, and feel free to send your rates are not the language of penny-pinching. It sounds more like an eager businessperson, regardless of status, reaching out to do business. If money was the point of disagreement, no one was being forced into anything. To me, this reeks more of attention-seeking than of penny-pinching by a startup owner, because isn’t that what most founders do in the early days?
A more fitting example of a truly rich person haggling came a few years ago, when Elon Musk, then one of the richest people on earth, was negotiating with 19-year-old Jack Sweeney, who created the Twitter bot that tracked Musk’s private flights. The tech tycoon reportedly offered him a measly $5,000 to delete the account. Sweeney asked him to add a zero and take it to $50,000. It never happened.
