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How hugely successful people like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos first met their spouses

When Bill Gates first asked out his now-wife, Melinda, she said no. Take a look at how some of the most successful couples in the world first met.

• Business Insider looked into how some of the most successful people out there met their spouses and partners.

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• Several couples, like Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos and Bill and Melinda Gates, met at work.

• Others met at recreational events, like a charity poker tournament or a high school football game.

When Bill Gates first asked out his now-wife, Melinda, she said no.

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When Lebron James first asked out his now-wife, Savannah, she had no idea who he was.

Warren Buffett's first wife introduced him to his future second wife.

Take a look below at how eight hugely successful couples first met:

LeBron James and his future wife Savannah both grew up in Akron, Ohio and attended rival high schools. The couple first met at a high school football game.

She told Harper's Bazaar she wasn't aware of his growing star when she accepted his invitation to go check out one of his basketball games: "I had no idea who he was."

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Microsoft CEO Bill Gates first asked Melinda, a newly hired product manager, out to dinner at a company picnic in 1987.

The only problem? He wanted to schedule the date two weeks in advance. She responded, "That's not spontaneous enough for me," Fortune reported in 2015.

Later that evening, Gates called her up later that night with a wry question: "Is this spontaneous enough for you?" Turns out, it was.

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Spanx founder Sara Blakely met her husband — Marquis Jets cofounder Jesse Itzler — at the 2006 Net Jet Annual Las Vegas Poker Tournament. One of her sales representatives wrangled her a seat at the main table with Itzler.

He told Success.com he was fascinated by her departure from the game: "Who goes to bed at 9:30 at night in Vegas? That intrigued me. And she loved to laugh, and that intrigued me, too."

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Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady met through a friend back in 2006.

For Bundchen, it was pretty much love at first sight. "The moment I saw him, he smiled and I was like, 'That is the most beautiful, charismatic smile I've ever seen,'" she told Vanity Fair.

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Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez first met in 2005. Marc Antony, who was married to Lopez at the time, threw the first pitch at a Mets game.

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Jeff Bezos first met his wife MacKenzie at investment management firm D.E. Shaw. Bezos, who was a vice president at the firm, was the first person to interview MacKenzie.

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Warren Buffett met his first wife Susan through his sister Roberta — the two were roommates at Northwestern University.

She was already seeing someone else at the time, but Buffett wooed her with his ukulele skills.

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In 1978, a year after she separated from Buffett, Susan introduced her husband to her friend, restaurant hostess Astrid Menks.

Buffett remained married to Susan until her death in 2004, but lived with Menks, who he married in 2006. According to Time, Buffett would often say, "Susie put me together and Astrid keeps me together."

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