Gates Foundation exits Microsoft, sells final $3.2b stake

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, sold its last 7.7 million Microsoft shares in the first quarter of 2026. Ending more than 25 years of direct financial ties to the software company co-founded by Bill Gates, according to a report.

The stake was worth about US$3.2 billion, and the sale completed a two-year reduction from 28.5 million shares after Microsoft made up about 27% of the foundation trust’s holdings in 2022.

The exit comes after Gates said the foundation will spend its full endowment by 2045 and is expected to distribute about US$9 billion in grants this year, while the trust portfolio now stands at about US$31.7 billion.

🔗 Source: The Economic Times

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The foundation’s exit comes from risk management, not concern about Microsoft

The sale came from normal portfolio management at a large charitable foundation, not concern about Microsoft’s path 1.
Microsoft had grown into a big share of the Gates Foundation trust, so the foundation cut that position to lower concentration risk and keep enough cash for billions of dollars in yearly grants 1.
At the same time, Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square, a hedge fund firm, bought a roughly US$2.3 billion stake in Microsoft 2.
Microsoft also trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 21x, below Apple at 33x and Amazon at 32x 1.

Microsoft is also pouring billions into AI infrastructure

The company is putting fresh money behind its AI plans 3.
It signed a five-year US$9.7 billion deal with AI cloud service provider IREN, a data center and cloud infrastructure company, for access to some Nvidia chips 3.
The AI race is expensive. Microsoft spent nearly US$35 billion on capital expenditures, or long-term spending on facilities and equipment, in the July-September quarter. Nearly half went to computer chips 3.
That spending means Microsoft’s results will rely on its software business and on how well it handles a costly buildout of AI infrastructure 4.