Microsoft No Longer Top 3 Holding After Gates Foundation Sells 17 Million Shares
The Gates Foundation Trust significantly rebalanced its portfolio in the third quarter of 2025, trimming its largest holdings and exiting several positions entirely in a quarter marked by selling.
MSFT No Longer Part Of Gates Foundation’s Top Three Holdings
The foundation’s total portfolio value fell from $47.78 billion at the end of the second quarter to $36.58 billion as of Sept. 30, according to its latest 13F filing.
The most dramatic change was a 65% reduction in its Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) stake, with the trust selling 17,000,000 shares. This reduced its total holding from over 26.19 million shares to just 9.19 million shares, thus slashing $8.267 billion of its stake.
The foundation also pared back its other top-tier investments. It sold 10% or 2,358,460 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK) for $776.313 million.
Additionally, the trust trimmed its Waste Management Inc. (NYSE:WM) position by $986.291 million, which came up to 3,300,000 shares, representing a 10% reduction.
Another major trim was the sale of 3,000,000 shares of Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR), 1,000,000 shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), and 700,000 shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT).
These portfolio changes led to BRK-B, WM, and CNR becoming the top three holdings of the foundation, with CNR’s stake being slightly higher in value than MSFT.
Gates Foundation Cleans Up Its Portfolio
The filing also revealed a portfolio cleanup. The foundation completely exited two positions, selling all 1,420,072 shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) and all 755,089 shares of United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE:UPS).
These moves, which involved no new purchases or increases to existing stakes, reduced the total number of holdings in the trust’s portfolio from 25 to 23.
Summary Of Major Q3 2025 Changes
| Action | Company | Shares Sold | New Holding |
| Top Subtraction | Microsoft Corp. | -17,000,000 | 9,191,207 |
| Subtraction | Waste Management Inc. | -3,300,000 | 28,934,344 |
| Subtraction | Canadian National Railway | -3,000,000 | 51,826,786 |
| Subtraction | Berkshire Hathaway Inc. | -2,358,460 | 21,765,224 |
| Subtraction | Caterpillar Inc. | -1,000,000 | 6,353,614 |
| Subtraction | Walmart Inc. | -700,000 | 8,390,477 |
| Complete Exit | Crown Castle Inc. | -1,420,072 | 0 |
| Complete Exit | United Parcel Service Inc. | -755,089 | 0 |
Read Next:
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Tada Images / Shutterstock.coma