Bill Gates Has Nearly 30% of His $35 Billion Portfolio in 1 Stock and It's Not Microsoft

The Gates Foundation, acceptable up by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates successful 2000, is 1 of the wealthiest charities successful the world. It has spent much than $102 cardinal connected charitable causes since its inception, and arsenic of the latest information, the foundation's spot manages $86 cardinal successful full assets.

Of the trust's assets, much than $35 cardinal is invested successful publically traded companies that are reported to the SEC connected a quarterly basis. Although determination are astir 2 twelve stocks successful the portfolio, 1 banal accounts for 28% of the portfolio -- and it isn't the institution Gates co-founded.

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The Gates Foundation's banal portfolio has a full of 23 positions, but it is alternatively concentrated, with 96% of its assets invested successful its 10 largest holdings. But determination is 1 that is the largest presumption by a wide margin, and it is monolithic conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKB).

As of the extremity of 2025, The Gates Foundation owned astir 19.4 cardinal Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway, which person a full marketplace worth of astir $9.8 billion.

If you're curious, different apical holdings successful the portfolio see Waste Management (NYSE: WM) and Canadian National Railway (NYSE: CNI). And yes, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is the fig 4 holding, with a 10.5% allocation.

Berkshire Hathaway isn't needfully The Gates Foundation's apical holding due to the fact that its portfolio managers judge it's going to beryllium an fantabulous semipermanent investment. To beryllium sure, they might feel that way, but it isn't the main reason.

The crushed wherefore Berkshire Hathaway is the apical holding is that Warren Buffett has made yearly monolithic charitable contributions to The Gates Foundation, arsenic good arsenic different charities, for galore years. And helium does truthful successful the signifier of Berkshire Hathaway stock.

In fact, from 2006 done 2024, Buffett gave a full of $43.3 cardinal to the instauration successful the signifier of Berkshire stock. It "only" owns $9.8 cardinal successful Berkshire banal contiguous due to the fact that it incrementally sells shares to assistance money its charitable giving, which is precisely what Warren Buffett intended. In the 4th fourth of 2025 alone, The Gates Foundation sold 2.36 cardinal shares of Berkshire, raising much than $1 billion.