In Q2, billionaire investor Bill Gates executed major stock trades worth over $4 billion (£2.9 billion) in two companies.
According to the latest filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Bill Gates purchased 6.95 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class B (NYSE: BKR.B) shares for the quarter ended 30th June, increasing his stake in Warren Buffett’s company by a whopping 40.48%. The shares would be worth $3.43 billion (£2.54 billion) based on the closing price of $494.10 (£366.1) on Tuesday. He now owns 24.1 million Berkshire Class B shares worth over $11 billion (£8.1 billion).
Gates’ decision comes after offloading millions of BRK.B shares in the previous four consecutive quarters.
In Q2, Gates Foundation Trust also offloaded 2.26 million shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), as Gates trimmed his stake in the company he founded by 7.96%. The stock sale would be worth $1.15 billion (£852 million) based on Tuesday’s closing price of $509.23 (£377.3). Gates still owns 26.1 million Microsoft shares worth over $13 billion (£9.6 billion).
Gates has sold over 8.7 million shares of Microsoft since Q2 2024 despite the stock price surging over 17% in the past one year. According to analysts polled by TipRanks, Microsoft has a 12-month stock price target of $625.78 (£463.6) with the highest forecast of $680 (£503.8) from Citi.
According to a late-June filing with the SEC, legendary investor Buffett converted 8,239 Class A shares of Berkshire Hathaway into 12.35 million Class B shares of the common stock, where each Class A share was convertible into 1,500 Class B shares. He then donated over 9.4 million of those converted class B shares to the Gates Foundation Trust. The filing noted that these donations are in accordance with the Oracle of Omaha’s lifetime commitments.
Buffett also donated 943,384 of the converted shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his late first wife, and 660,366 shares to each of the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation, which are run by his three children.
In 2006, Buffett had pledged to donate 85% of his Berkshire Hathaway stake to charity, most of which was supposed to go to Gates’ foundation. However, he revealed in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last year that the donations to the Gates Foundation would stop after he passes away.
Although the legendary investor did not divulge many details behind the decision, he had earlier said while resigning from the Gates Foundation board that his goals are 100% in sync with those of the foundation, and that his ‘physical participation is in no way needed to achieve these goals.’
The Berkshire Hathaway Class B and Microsoft stocks make up 51.8% of Gates’ $47 billion (£34.8 billion) portfolio, which comprises 25 stocks. The next stock in his portfolio with the highest exposure is Waste Management (NYSE: WM), accounting for 15.4% of his portfolio. He owns 32.3 million shares of the company worth over $7.3 billion (£5.4 billion).
Waste Management is followed by Canadian National Railway (NYSE: CNI), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), and Deere & Co (NYSE: DE), with stakes worth $5.7 billion (£4.2 billion), $2.8 billion (£2 billion), and $1.8 billion (£1.3 billion), respectively.
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