Gates rent of rooftop courtyard 'not true'

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has denied reports by Chinese media that retired Microsoft founder Bill Gates paid 100 million yuan ($17.4 million) for a rooftop courtyard overlooking the Olympic Green.

"While the foundation does not have details to share about Bill Gates' personal trip to attend the Beijing Olympics, we can confirm that this information is not true," the foundation's media team said in a statement yesterday.

The multibillionaire was in New York on Wednesday promoting a fresh worldwide anti-smoking campaign with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.