• TechFlash, Friday, October 24, 2008 11:30 AM

Just months after officially leaving his day-to-day role with Microsoft, Bill Gates has quietly established a new company with high-tech office space, a cryptic name and even its own trademark. Just what it will do is still anyone's guess.

According to public documents, the new company is called bgC3 LLC, and is some kind of a think tank. According to a Gates insider, it's not a commercial venture but rather a vehicle to coordinate the software mogul's work on his business and philanthropic endeavors. But Gates himself, who established the company under a different name in March before changing it to bgC3 in July, isn't talking.

Some suggest the name could mean "Bill Gates Company 3," meaning the third Gates enterprise after Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But the insider says the "C" stands for "Catalyst," a reference to the role Gates himself will play as he brings together new ideas and people.

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