Almost no change: the Bill Gates Foundation sold only two shares last quarter

Bill Gates' fund made only two changes to its portfolio last quarter: reducing stakes in Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway, according to its report on Form 13F. The investor's strategy remains concentrated: the fund has shares of 23 companies under management, but more than 80% of its capital is allocated to just five issuers.

Gates Foundation Trust, which manages money for the Bill Gates and Melinda Gates Charitable Foundation, sold 2.4 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway in the fourth quarter of 2025, reducing the position by 10.8%. However, the $9.8 billion package is still the largest asset in the portfolio, holding 27.6% of the portfolio. Berkshire Hathaway was led for more than 60 years by Gates' close friend Warren Buffett. He is no longer CEO as of 2026, but remains chairman and Berkshire's largest shareholder.

At the same time, the Gates Foundation Trust reduced its investments in Microsoft, a technology corporation co-founded by Gates. The fund sold 1.5 million shares, reducing its stake by 16.3%. The reduction of the share did not deprive bigtech of a place in the top five leaders of the portfolio: Microsoft has 10.5% of total assets, the value of the package of 7.7 million shares at the end of the year was estimated at $3.7 billion.

The other assets in the fund's portfolio were unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2025. Gates Foundation Trust owns shares of waste management operator Waste Management (for $6.4 billion), railroad company Canadian National Railway (for $5.1 billion) and heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (for $3.6 billion). Stakes in logistics and retail (FedEx and Walmart), agricultural machinery (Deere & Co) and beverage (Coca-Cola FEMSA) remained unrotated. In the technology and medicine block, the fund retained positions in the industrial-medical holding Danaher, biotech company Schrödinger and drug delivery systems manufacturer West Pharmaceutical.

The second largest asset in Gates' portfolio after Berkshire Hathaway is the waste disposal operator Waste Management. This stake is almost 18% and is valued at $6.4 billion, followed by railroad giant Canadian National Railway with a 14.5% stake ($5.1 billion) and Microsoft ($3.7 billion, 10.5%).

Caterpillar, a manufacturer of heavy equipment, closes the top 5, with investments in which amounted to $3.6 billion (10.29%). These five companies account for 80.9% of the total portfolio of Gates Foundation Trust. The value of the entire portfolio at the end of the year amounted to $35.4 billion against $36.6 billion in the third quarter.

Large funds in the U.S. are required to report their assets to the regulator (SEC) every three months. Investors have 45 days to file a Form 13F, so the data reported for the fourth quarter of 2025 reflects assets as of December 31, 2025 and does not take into account transactions that may have been made by the fund in early 2026.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor