Bill Gates’ Foundation Sells Last Of Microsoft

• The stake was worth $3.2 billion at current prices. 
• The sales came during the first quarter, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 
• Billionaire Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square bought 5.6 million MSFT shares.

Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates’ charity foundation no longer holds any MSFT stock after disclosing on Friday the sale of its remaining $3.2 billion stake at current prices. 

In a Friday disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the trust—which serves as the endowment for the charity foundation of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates—revealed that it sold its final 7.7 million shares during the first quarter. At current market prices, the offloaded stake is valued at approximately $3.2 billion. 

The transaction marks the complete exit from a stock that once heavily anchored the fund. As of March 2025, the trust held 28.5 million Microsoft shares, valued at $10.7 billion, accounting for roughly 26% of its overall portfolio. The fund’s sole trustee is Bill Gates, who has influence over investment decisions, though it’s managed by Cascade Asset Management. 

Gates announced last year that he was winding down the work of the Gates Foundation over a 20-year period and that all the fund’s assets would be spent by then. 

Bill Ackman Of Pershing Square Acquires Stake In MSFT 

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman on Friday revealed that his investment management firm, Pershing Square, has acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).

Pershing Square’s 13F filings, showed that the firm purchased 5.6 million shares of Microsoft, which was valued at roughly $2.3 billion based on Friday’s closing price.  

Ackman said he had started building the position in Microsoft in February after the software giant fell in the wake of its second quarter (Q2) earnings. 

“We were able to establish our position at a valuation of 21 times forward earnings, broadly in line with the market multiple and well below Microsoft’s trading average over the last few years,” Ackman wrote. While Ackman didn’t note the size of his stake in the tech giant, he called it a “core holding.” 

Since hitting an all-time peak in Jul 1, 2025, Microsoft's stock has plummeted by over 26%. This decline was primarily sparked by anxieties that artificial intelligence might displace traditional software, alongside skepticism regarding whether the company's massive capital expenditure on AI will yield successful outcomes.

MSFT Retail View 

Retail Sentiment on Stocktwits was ‘neutral,’ and message volumes were ‘high.’ 

The stock has lost 6.4% of its value over the past 12 months.

Read More: SpaceX Accelerates Timeline For Its IPO Valued At $1.8 Trillion; Will Now List on June 12: Reports

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.