The Gates Foundation, established by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has disposed of all the Microsoft equity it held. With Microsoft stock, which had served as a core asset since the foundation's inception, removed from the portfolio, the financial consolidation between the Gates Foundation and Microsoft has effectively concluded after about 25 years.
Barron's, a U.S. financial outlet, reported on the 17th (local time) that the Gates Foundation Trust sold 7.7 million shares of Microsoft in the first quarter this year for about $3.2 billion. The foundation still held 28.5 million Microsoft shares as of the end of the first quarter last year, but it has since reduced its equity in stages and this time disposed of the remaining equity entirely.
The Gates Foundation is a private charitable foundation founded in 2000 by Bill Gates and then-spouse Melinda French Gates to address disease, hunger, and inequality and to expand education. A significant portion of the foundation's assets had long consisted of Microsoft stock donated by Gates.
This sale is seen as aligning with changes in the foundation's long-term operating plan. Gates said last year that the foundation's activities will end in 2045 and that it will return assets to society more quickly until then. The Gates Foundation also explained that it expects to disburse more than $200 billion over the next 20 years.
However, this equity sale does not mean that Gates has unwound his personal Microsoft equity. According to Barron's, Gates still holds 103 million Microsoft shares worth about $43 billion, maintaining his status as the largest individual shareholder.
Microsoft's share price has been weak this year on concerns about expense burdens from expanded artificial intelligence investment. However, Barron's said news of the Gates Foundation's sale of its equity holdings did not directly cause the price decline.