Her Kerry A. Dolan
When Bill Gates announced last month that he was donating $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — part of a move to increase donations from the philanthropic group — he did not share details about the assets he was giving away.
Forbes found that, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a significant part of his donation was the transfer in late July of about 44.5 million shares of Canadian National Railway, worth nearly $5.2 billion. That leaves Bill Gates with a 1.4 percent stake in the company, worth $1.2 billion at Tuesday’s market close.
Gates’ investment firm Cascade had already reduced its stake in the Canadian rail company. Last year he transferred part of his stake to Melinda Gates as part of their divorce settlement.
In March and April of this year, Gates sold about $940 million worth of Canadian National Railway shares, Bloomberg first reported.
In May, he sold another batch of shares, worth $730 million. Gates has owned a stake in the company, through Cascade, since at least 2013. The stock has more than doubled in value since then, and since 2015 has paid annual dividends of at least $1 per share.
Late last month, Gates also gave the Gates Foundation nearly $1.3 billion worth of shares in tractor and farm equipment maker Deere & Co. according to an SEC filing.
Gates now owns a 6.5 percent stake in Deere, worth about $6.7 billion. He also transferred some of the shares of Deere & Co. to Melinda Gates in August 2021, also as part of their divorce settlement. Shares of Deere are down about 5% so far this year.
Together, the Canadian National Railway and Deere & Co. stock donations. they represent just under a third of the $20 billion Gates has said he is giving to the Gates Foundation. A spokesman for the foundation did not respond to a request for comment on what other shares or assets Gates transferred.
The shift in assets pushed Gates down one spot on Forbes’ real-time billionaires list to No. 5 of the world’s richest. India’s Gautam Adani moved up to 4th place. As of Tuesday afternoon, after the close of trading, Gates is worth an estimated $109.9 billion.
Through his investment firm Cascade, Gates also owns stakes in waste management companies Republic Services and Waste Management and auto dealership AutoNation, among others. Gates is believed to own about $28.6 billion worth of Microsoft shares, or just over 1% of the company. He stopped reporting his Microsoft ownership percentage in 2020 after he stepped down from the board.
Gates transferred shares in various companies to his ex-wife last year, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including shares in AutoNation and Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa.
He also transferred to it his 6% stake in the Dutch fertilizer company OCI NV, run by Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris. According to the company’s 2021 annual report, he owns an 8.4% stake that is currently worth nearly $600 million. Forbes estimates Melinda Gates’ fortune today at $6.6 billion.
Source: Capital
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