The internet is slamming Bill Gates‘s daughter Phoebe Gates for allegedly trying to negotiate with a content creator who charges $250 per collab (via New York Post). The influencer, Kacie Margis, took to Threads this week to reveal that Phoebe tried to lowball her. Gates is the co-founder of the AI shopping tool Phia.
Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe gets called out over alleged bargain of $250 job
Kacie Margis is a model and lifestyle tastemaker from Orange County, California. Earlier this week, she wrote on Threads, “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.” The billionaire’s daughter in question is Phoebe Gates, whose father has a net worth of $103 billion.
Margis shared a screenshot of an apparent Instagram direct message from Phoebe, sent in April 2025. The message, allegedly from Phoebe’s official Instagram account, began, “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.”
Elsewhere, the message said, “We’re still a scrappy startup so budget’s super limited, but we’d still… work if you’re open.” For those unversed, Phia is a price-comparison AI bot that helps fashion fans find discounted prices for secondhand couture. The New York-based brand reportedly has a value of $180 million. So, Phoebe downplaying her company as a “scrappy startup” rubbed off on netizens in the wrong way.
In the message, Phoebe also requested Margis to “send your rates.” However, the content creator did not take the bait. In her Threads rant, she wrote, “She found me on a site called Collabstr, where brands can book creators. My rates are publicly listed on the platform, but instead of booking me there, she sent a private message trying to negotiate me down.” Needless to say, fans are not taking it well.
Originally reported by Ankita Shaw on Mandatory.
