The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust manages the assets of the foundation of the same name run by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda. These were the largest equity holdings in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Institutional investors whose investments exceed $100 million are required to report their holdings quarterly to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The so-called 13F form is publicly available at the authority.
As of the final quarter of 2023, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust comprised a portfolio value of $42.283 billion – thereby qualifying for Form 13F filings with the SEC. The trust was set up to hold the assets of the Microsoft co-founder in 1999 Bill Gates to manage the foundation set up by his ex-wife Melinda. The nonprofit organization works to improve healthcare and access to education worldwide. Although the couple is now separated, they continue to run the nonprofit together.
The following ranking contains the ten largest stock positions that were in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust in the fourth quarter of 2023. The data is as of December 31, 2023.
Editorial team finanzen.net
11th place: The ranking
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust manages the assets of the foundation of the same name run by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda. With a total value of $42.283 billion, the Gateses are required to report quarterly on their holdings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares received are weighted in percentage terms according to their share in the trust. The top ten were taken into account. The data is as of December 31, 2023.
Source: sec.gov, Image: JamesWMfoto / Shutterstock.com
10th place: FedEx
The parcel service provider FedEx took tenth place in the Gates ranking in the final quarter of 2023 – just like in the previous quarter. The Gates Foundation also did not change the number of shares in the portfolio: the 1,534,362 shares of the UPS competitor from the third quarter of 2023 were still in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. As of December 31, 2023, these were worth $388.148 million on the stock exchange, corresponding to 0.92 percent of all the former spouses’ holdings.
Source: sec.gov, Image: ricochet64 / Shutterstock.com
9th place: Walmart
Just like in the previous quarter, the US retail chain Walmart was also in ninth place in the Gates Trust in the fourth quarter of 2023. The position still comprised 3,030,159 shares in the trading group. As of the reporting date, these corresponded to a value of 477.705 million US dollars. Walmart shares took up 1.13 percent of the entire portfolio.
Source: sec.gov, Image: www.walmart.com
8th place: Coca-Cola FEMSA
The Mexican Coca-Cola subsidiary Coca-Cola FEMSA continued to be the eighth largest holding of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust in the fourth quarter of 2023. The philanthropists still held 6,214,719 banknotes from the bottler in their depot, which had a market value of 588.161 million US dollars. This corresponded to a share of 1.39 percent of the entire trust.
Source: sec.gov, Image: oneinchpunch / Shutterstock.com
7th place: Ecolab
Even in seventh place, there were no changes in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust’s portfolio in the last quarter. The 5,218,044 papers from water hygiene specialist Ecolab were not touched. In total, the stake was worth $1.035 billion at the end of December, which corresponded to 2.45 percent of all positions in the Gates Trust.
Source: sec.gov, Image: Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com
6th place: Deere & Co.
The manufacturer of agricultural equipment Deere & Co. is still in sixth place in the Gates ranking, although the foundation sold 360,315 shares in the last quarter. The remaining 3,557,378 shares had a market value of $1.422 billion at the end of December. The titles of the tractor manufacturer, which is best known for its main brand John Deere, took up 3.36 percent of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust’s entire portfolio.
Source: sec.gov, Image: JCLobo / Shutterstock.com
5th place: Caterpillar
The top 5 is heralded by the mechanical engineering company Caterpillar, which was represented in the trust with 7,353,614 shares in the final quarter. At the end of the quarter, the shareholding in the stock market was worth 2.174 billion US dollars, which corresponded to 5.14 percent of the entire portfolio.
Source: sec.gov, Image: James Mattil / Shutterstock.com
4th place: Waste Management
As in the previous quarter, the waste management company Waste Management came fourth in the ranking. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Gates continued to hold a total of 35,234,344 shares in the group. As of the reporting date, these were worth around $6.310 billion – 14.92 percent of the entire trust.
Source: sec.gov, Image: Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com
3rd place: Canadian National Railway
The shares of the Canadian railway company Canadian National Railway once again made it to third place in the Gates ranking and thus onto the winners’ podium. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Gateses did not touch the position and retained all 54,826,786 shares of the company. As of the reporting date, Canadian National Railway shares were worth $6.888 billion on the stock exchange, which corresponded to a share of 16.29 percent of the total portfolio.
Source: sec.gov, Image: bunlee / Shutterstock.com
2nd place: Berkshire Hathaway B
Although the Gates Trust again sold 2,613,252 Berkshire Hathaway B shares during the period under review, the company headed by investment legend Warren Buffett can defend its second place in the ranking. There were 19,916,349 shares left, which were worth $7.103 billion at the end of December. This corresponded to 16.80 percent of the entire portfolio. Buffett was himself a trustee of the foundation until 2021. Since leaving office, he has continued to support the organization with a regular donation of B shares in his investment company, which have fewer voting rights compared to A shares.
Source: sec.gov, Image: 360b / Shutterstock.com
1st place: Microsoft
The shares of the IT company Microsoft, founded by Gates in 1975 with Paul Allen, remained undisputed in the top position in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the final quarter of 2023, the foundation reduced its holdings by 1,075,301 Microsoft shares to a total of 38,210,869 shares. As of the reporting date, the securities on the stock exchange were worth 14.369 billion US dollars, which corresponded to 33.98 percent of the entire portfolio.
Source: sec.gov, Image: Volodymyr Kyrylyuk / Shutterstock.com
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