Bill Gates’ share portfolio revealed – including a JSE-listed company
In the second quarter of 2023, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust saw the value of its share portfolio increase to a record $42.06 billion as it added to its stake in Warren Buffett-owned Berkshire Hathaway and bought JSE-listed Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his former wife, Melinda Gates, started the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000.
In 2006, the foundation’s trustees established a two-entity structure that separated the program work from the investment of the foundation’s assets.
The two entities are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which distributes money to grantees, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, which manages the endowment assets and funds the foundation.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust currently holds 23 stocks.
Warren Buffett-owned Berkshire Hathaway has been the trust’s top holding since 2007 but dropped to second place in Q4 2022. In Q1 2023, it fell to third place.
The foundation started selling its Berkshire Hathaway shares in Q3 2022, when it reduced its stake by 14.41%.
In Q4 2022, the trust reduced its Berkshire Hathaway shareholding by a further 16.84%, and in Q1 2023, it reduced its stake by 20.25%.
However, in Q2 2023, the foundation increased its stake in the company by 27.69%.
The foundation also bought shares in AB InBev, which owns popular local beer brands like Black Label, Castle, and Windhoek.
The foundation bought 1,703,000 shares in the JSE-listed brewer, valued at $96,594,000. Ab InBev comprises only 0.23% of the foundation’s portfolio.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust made no other changes to its portfolio in Q2, and technology giant Microsoft remains its top holding, comprising 31.79% of the portfolio.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Q2 2023 portfolio
| Stock | Portfolio percentage | Change | Value |
| MSFT – Microsoft | 31.79% | No change | $13,371,191,000 |
| BRK.B – Berkshire Hathaway | 20.38% | Add 27.69% | $8,573,713,000 |
| CNI – Canadian National Railway | 15.78% | No change | $6,637,879,000 |
| WM – Waste Management | 14.53% | No change | $6,110,340,000 |
| CAT – Caterpillar | 4.30% | No change | $1,809,357,000 |
| DE – Deere & Co. | 3.77% | No change | $1,587,410,000 |
| ECL – Ecolab | 2.32% | No change | $974,157,000 |
| KOF – Coca-Cola | 1.23% | No change | $517,748,000 |
| WMT – Walmart | 1.13% | No change | $474,819,000 |
| FDX – FedEx | 0.90% | No change | $380,368,000 |
| SDGR – SCHRODINGER | 0.83% | No change | $348,525,000 |
| WCN – Waste Connections | 0.73% | No change | $307,182,000 |
| CCI – Crown Castle International | 0.38% | No change | $161,803,000 |
| CPNG – Coupang | 0.38% | No change | $160,916,000 |
| UPS – United Parcel Service | 0.32% | No change | $132,769,000 |
| MSGS – Madison Square Garden Sports | 0.26% | No change | $111,402,000 |
| BUD – Anheuser-Busch InBev | 0.23% | Buy | $96,594,000 |
| KHC – Kraft Heinz | 0.22% | No change | $93,102,000 |
| DHR – Danaher | 0.21% | No change | $89,520,000 |
| HRL – Hormel Foods | 0.21% | No change | $88,295,000 |
| ONON – On Holding | 0.04% | No change | $16,500,000 |
| CVNA – Carvana | 0.03% | No change | $13,478,000 |
| VRM – Vroom | 0.01% | No change | $3,600,000 |
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