Bill Gates

Co-founder, Microsoft · Gates Foundation~$105B

Diversify, then give it away

The original concentration-to-diversification story: Gates sold Microsoft down from 45% to under 1%, rebuilt the fortune as a diversified holding company (Cascade), and is now running the most aggressive planned give-away in history — the portfolio exists to fund its own disappearance.

Net worth

Estimatedyearly estimates from public reporting · risk pane = rolling volatility, the standard deviation of annual growth wealth managers use

$105B+75% since 2000Net worth (est.) · 2000–2026 · volatility 7% · Sharpe 0.06◆ 2 tracked events — click the chart for detail

The allocation

Estimatedmodeled from public reporting — a wealth manager's sketch, not a statement

Cascade diversified equities~55%

The holding company

Canadian National RailwayRepublic ServicesDeere & CoEcolab

Returns

Estimated

Cascade era (1995–)market-like

Diversified compounding, deliberately unspectacular

Predicted range · modeled5–8%/yr

Diversified equity book minus an accelerating give-away schedule

Portfolio highlights

public & private — widely reported positions; weights are member-gated

Canadian National Railwaypublic
Cascade's anchor position
Microsoftpublic
The remaining heritage stake
TerraPowerprivate
Advanced nuclear venture

Private allocations

best public information — stakes and terms mostly undisclosed

TerraPowerFounder-backed

Advanced nuclear — his biggest personal climate bet

US farmland portfolioDirect

The largest private farmland owner in America

The pillars

Sell the concentration early — diversification bought him five recessions of calm
Own boring compounders: railroads, waste, tractors, hotels
The end state is zero: the foundation spends it all by 2045

Signature moves

Methodically sold Microsoft for 25 years while it remained his largest single position
Built Cascade into stakes like Canadian National, Republic Services, Deere, and Four Seasons

The tax playbook

Editorialstrategies widely reported around Gates — never tax advice

Appreciated-stock giving at record scale

Decades of gifting appreciated Microsoft and Berkshire shares to the foundation — no capital-gains realization, full fair-value deductions, and the assets compound tax-exempt until granted.

The 2045 sunset

Announcing the foundation will spend everything and close by 2045 turns the estate-tax question moot for most of the fortune — the ultimate estate plan is giving it all away, on his schedule not the IRS's.

Compiled from public reporting on structures these investors are widely reported to use. Tax outcomes depend entirely on individual circumstances — this is background reading, not tax advice.

On the wire

tracked filings & reports — live from SEC EDGAR and press

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Recent moves

from public filings & press — quarter-level, not live data

SHIFT
May 2025
Announced virtually all of the fortune will flow through the foundation by 2045 — doubling the giving pace
BUY
2025
Deepened TerraPower funding as its first reactor build advanced

Sources

Where this profile's information comes from — filings first.

This profile is an editorial summary compiled from public sources. Allocation, return, and prediction figures are MODELED ESTIMATES — informed guesses, not verified data; predictions are illustrative scenarios only. No affiliation with or endorsement by Bill Gates is implied, and nothing on this page is investment advice.