Tracking Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Portfolio – Q4 2017 Update

•  The huge ~$26B portfolio has just 17 positions.
• The largest position, Berkshire Hathaway is at a whopping ~48% of the portfolio.
• This quarter saw reductions in the huge Berkshire Hathaway & Microsoft Corporation stakes.

Gates Foundation portfolio value increased this quarter from $25.75B to $26.47B. Over the years, the portfolio has become extremely concentrated. In their first 13F filing in 2002, they had about 27 positions and the total portfolio value was ~$1.8B. Currently, the portfolio is well over ten times that while the number of positions has gone down to just 17.

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Below is a summary:

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B): BRK.B is by far the largest stake at 47.61% of the portfolio. The original position is from Q3 2006 at a cost-basis in the mid-60s. The size of the stake peaked at ~87M shares in Q4 2012 and the current position is at ~64M shares. The stake has wavered. Last quarter saw a ~15% stake increase as the stock traded between $169 and $184 while this quarter saw a ~7% reduction. The stock currently trades at ~$205.

Waste Management (WM):  WM was a very small ~1.2M share position during their first 13F filing in Q3 2002. The current position is at ~18.6M shares (~6% of the portfolio). The bulk of the position is from Q3 2009 when around 8M shares were purchased at a cost-basis in the high-20s. 2010 also saw a ~3M share increase in the mid-30s. Since then, the position has been left untouched. The stock has almost tripled and currently goes for $86.27.

Canadian National Railway (CNI): CNI is the fourth-largest stake at ~5.34% of the portfolio. Since 2008, the position has remained remarkably steady at ~17M shares. The bulk of the stake was built during the period from 2006 to 2008 at a cost-basis in the low-20s. CNI currently trades at $72.90.

The spreadsheet below shows Gates Foundation’s holdings as of Q4 2017. Please visit our previous updates to get an idea on how the portfolio has progressed:

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