What does the Gates Foundation Trust own?
At 31 December 2025, the Trust's $89.3bn of investments were 58.1% shares, 31.1% bonds, 4.9% commodities and 5.9% private investments, commingled funds, cash equivalents and derivatives (our calculation). The figures come from the fair-value table in the Trust's audited financial statements for 2025, signed by KPMG on 12 May 2026.
The Trust and the Gates Foundation are separate tax-exempt private foundations; in 2025 their names changed from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Trust (Gates Foundation, Financials). The Trust holds the donated assets of Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett and transfers money to the foundation as needed.
At 31 December 2025, of investment assets: US government securities 25.0%; other shares 23.7%; industrial shares 23.5%; Berkshire Hathaway B shares 10.9%; other bonds 6.1%; commodities 4.9%; private investments 2.7%; commingled funds 2.3%; cash equivalents 0.8%; derivatives 0.1%. Source: Gates Foundation Trust, audited financial statements 2025, Note 3, PDF p. 10; chart data (CSV).
Other bonds are foreign government ($2.4bn), asset-backed ($1.6bn), corporate ($1.4bn) and municipal securities. The statements do not give the maturity of the US government securities, so the chart cannot say whether they behave more like cash or like long bonds.
The mix moved sharply in 2025.
| % of investments, 31 December | 2013 | 2021 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|
| Shares, all | 68.2% | 69.3% | 72.6% | 58.1% |
| of which information technology | 2.4% | 4.9% | 17.5% | 6.1% |
| US government securities | 16.2% | 10.6% | 13.3% | 25.0% |
| Commodities | none listed | 3.8% | 3.6% | 4.9% |
| Total investments | $40.4bn | $53.2bn | $77.1bn | $89.3bn |
Our calculation from the investments tables in the audited statements for 2013, 2022 (2021 column) and 2025 (2024 and 2025 columns). In 2025, information technology shares fell from $13.5bn to $5.4bn and US government securities rose from $10.3bn to $22.3bn. Neither the statements nor the foundation explain the shift.
What does the Gates Foundation's 13F show?
The Trust's 13F for 30 June 2026, filed on 14 August 2026, lists 24 US-listed holdings worth $34.4bn, and the four largest make up 76.3% of that value (our calculation). It is the latest filing: no 13F for 30 September 2026 had been filed by 3 November 2026 (EDGAR filing index). The filer name is now Gates Foundation Trust, and the filing is signed by Michael Larson as authorised agent.
| Holding | Value, 30 June 2026 | % of reported 13F value | Shares |
|---|
| Berkshire Hathaway (B) | $7.35bn | 21.4% | 14.7m |
| Caterpillar | $6.77bn | 19.7% | 6.4m |
| Canadian National Railway | $6.18bn | 18.0% | 51.8m |
| Waste Management | $5.96bn | 17.3% | 26.7m |
| Deere | $2.26bn | 6.6% | 3.6m |
| Ecolab | $1.45bn | 4.2% | 5.2m |
| Walmart | $0.95bn | 2.8% | 8.4m |
| FedEx | $0.75bn | 2.2% | 2.4m |
| Coca-Cola FEMSA (ADS) | $0.66bn | 1.9% | 6.2m |
| Home Depot | $0.35bn | 1.0% | 1.0m |
Source: Gates Foundation Trust 13F-HR information table, 30 June 2026; weights are our calculation of each issuer's share of the $34,424,791,932 total. The top ten make up 94.9%; the other 14 lines, from Waste Connections to On Holding, share the remaining 5.1%.
Concentration can grow without a trade. The Trust held the same 6,353,614 Caterpillar shares at 31 December 2025 and 30 June 2026, yet their value rose by 86% and their weight from 10.3% to 19.7% (our calculation from the two filings). Over the same six months the Berkshire line fell from 19.4m to 14.7m shares and Waste Management from 28.9m to 26.7m.
How has the Gates Foundation's portfolio changed over time?
The 13F has moved from a portfolio dominated by Berkshire Hathaway, at 59.4% in December 2016, through a period led by Microsoft, at 26.4% in December 2022, to four holdings of similar size in June 2026 (our calculation). Large gifts from Bill Gates explain the jumps.
Share of reported 13F value at 31 December 2016, 31 December 2022 and 30 June 2026: Berkshire Hathaway 59.4%, 21.3%, 21.4%; Microsoft none, 26.4%, none; Canadian National Railway 6.1%, 18.2%, 18.0%; Waste Management 6.9%, 15.5%, 17.3%; Caterpillar 5.5%, 4.9%, 19.7%; Deere none, 4.7%, 6.6%. Source: Gates Foundation Trust 13F-HR information tables for 31 December 2016, 31 December 2022 and 30 June 2026; chart data (CSV). Reported 13F value was $19.0bn, $35.7bn and $34.4bn at the three dates.
- 2017. Bill Gates gave Microsoft shares valued at $4.6bn (audited statements 2018, Note 2). The 13F first shows 64.0m Microsoft shares at 30 June 2017; by 30 June 2019 the line was gone.
- 2022. Mark Suzman, the foundation's chief executive, wrote on 12 July 2022 that Bill Gates was "transferring $20 billion to the foundation's endowment this month" (Gates Foundation). Between the 13F filings for 30 June and 30 September 2022, Microsoft rose from 0.9m to 39.3m shares, Canadian National Railway from 10.3m to 54.8m and Waste Management from 18.6m to 35.2m.
- 2024 to 2026. Microsoft fell from 38.2m shares at the end of 2023 to 28.5m at the end of 2024, 7.7m at the end of 2025 and none at 31 March 2026.
- 2006 to 2025. Warren Buffett gave Berkshire B shares every year, $4.6bn worth in 2025, and the Berkshire line shrinks between gifts. Through 2025 he had delivered 321 million of the up to 500 million shares he pledged in 2006, a conditional gift that applied only during his lifetime (audited statements 2025, Note 7).
- 2026. Buffett's July 2026 gift of 12 million B shares went only to four Buffett family foundations, and he said his remaining shares would go to those four by 31 December 2034 (Berkshire Hathaway, 14 July 2026).
For how Berkshire itself is allocated, see our study of Warren Buffett's asset allocation.
What does the 13F leave out?
The 13F lists mainly US-listed shares, so at 31 December 2025 it covered $35.4bn of the Trust's $89.3bn of investments, or 39.6%, against 54.5% a year earlier (our calculation). The rest appears only in the audited statements: $22.3bn of US government securities, $5.4bn of other bonds, $4.4bn of commodities, $2.4bn of private investments, $2.0bn of commingled funds and $0.7bn of cash equivalents.
Shares in the statements exceed the 13F by about $16.5bn (our calculation), consistent with holdings the 13F does not cover, such as listings outside the US; the statements do not name them. The two sources agree where they overlap: both value the Berkshire stake at $9.75bn.
Derivatives are also missing from the 13F. The statements say the Trust uses forwards and futures to manage price and interest-rate risk, and that it "also enters into derivative instruments for speculative and other purposes, including income enhancement and as an alternative to ownership of the underlying asset" (Note 4, PDF p. 12). At the end of 2025 it had $4.9bn of futures sales and $2.4bn of futures purchases outstanding by notional amount. Commitments of $0.8bn to private funds had not yet been called.
Charlie Munger's Daily Journal filed a far smaller 13F with the same blind spots; see Charlie Munger's portfolio strategy.
Who manages the Gates Foundation's endowment?
The foundation says the endowment is managed by Cascade Asset Management Company, "whose independent investment managers are not directly affiliated with the foundation", with Bill Gates as the Trust's trustee (Gates Foundation Trust). The same page states that "Warren has no involvement in the investment of the endowment through the Foundation Trust, including decisions that might be made regarding Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock." Apart from Bill Gates, the foundation's board and staff have no influence over investment decisions, according to the foundation.
Bill Gates has written little about the portfolio itself. His 2009 annual letter is the clearest statement: "The team led by Michael Larson that handles the investments has always done a great job."
The management is donated, not free. The Trust records the investment management services Bill Gates donates at an estimated market value, $987m in 2025 including $85m of third-party fees, and nets them against investment income (Note 2, PDF p. 8). That is about 1.3% of the Trust's average capital in 2025 (our calculation).
From 2017 to 2025, the Trust's net investment income compounded at about 8.5% a year, with losses of about 3.0% in 2018 and 4.8% in 2022 (our approximation). The Trust does not publish a return; we divide its reported net investment income by its average capital, counting gifts, grants and taxes at mid-year.
Approximate net return by calendar year: 2017, 20.3%; 2018, −3.0%; 2019, 11.3%; 2020, 8.8%; 2021, 7.3%; 2022, −4.8%; 2023, 17.2%; 2024, 6.6%; 2025, 15.9%. Source: statements of activities in the Trust's audited statements for 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2025; chart data (CSV). The compound rate of 8.5% sits below the simple average of 8.8%; the difference reflects variation across all the yearly returns, including the losses. The figures are approximate because the exact dates of gifts and grants are not disclosed.
The worst year on record is older. In the 2009 letter, Bill Gates wrote that "our assets decreased in value by about 20 percent in 2008", and that "I never thought I would say losing 20 percent is a reasonable result, but it is better than most endowments because so many asset classes went down by more than 20 percent in 2008." The foundation did not cut spending in response: it raised it from $3.3 billion in 2008 to $3.8 billion in 2009, "about 7 percent of our assets".
What does the 2045 spend-down mean for the allocation?
The foundation plans to spend its whole endowment and Bill Gates's future gifts by 31 December 2045, which makes the timing of losses, not only their size, decisive for the Trust.
On 8 May 2025 Bill Gates wrote: "I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world. And on December 31, 2045, the foundation will close its doors permanently." (Gates Foundation) He added: "The exact amount will depend on the markets and inflation, but I expect the foundation will spend more than $200 billion between now and 2045. This figure includes the balance of the endowment and my future contributions."
The original charter had the foundation sunset "several decades after our deaths".
Spending was already high before the announcement. Grants from the Trust to the foundation were 10.8% to 13.6% of the Trust's opening net assets in each year from 2017 to 2024, and 6.8% in 2025, against the 5% minimum that Bill Gates in 2009 called "the minimum required by the IRS" (our calculation from the audited statements).
Gifts refilled the Trust: the 2025 statements show $4.7bn of gifts, $4.6bn of them Buffett's Berkshire shares, against $5.3bn of grants. Buffett's July 2026 gift excluded the Trust, so future refills rest mainly on Bill Gates's contributions. The foundation's total charitable support was $8.47 billion in 2025, and the endowment was $92 billion at 30 June 2026, unaudited (Foundation Fact Sheet).
A scenario shows how much the horizon depends on returns and on the order of losses. It is our calculation, not a forecast or a plan of the foundation: start from the $89.2bn of net assets at the end of 2025, pay a constant $9bn at the end of each year, the payout level the foundation targeted for 2026, and add no further gifts.
| Constant yearly return | Years the $89.2bn lasts | After a 20% fall in year one |
|---|
| 0% | 9.9 | 7.9 |
| 3% | 11.9 | 9.2 |
| 5% | 14.0 | 10.4 |
| 7% | 17.5 | 12.0 |
Without new gifts, the endowment alone does not cover 20 years of $9bn at these returns; reaching 2045 relies on Gates's contributions, as his statement says. A 2008-sized fall at the start shortens the runway by 2 to 5.5 years in the scenario, because money paid out during the fall cannot recover with the market.
Even a perpetual endowment must fund ongoing spending; a fixed end date adds a further constraint on how long capital can remain invested. The rise of US government securities to a quarter of the portfolio fits that shorter horizon, but neither the Trust nor Bill Gates has said that it is the reason. Our study of cash withdrawals during a market crash shows the same mechanism for a household drawing on its savings.
What does copio think of this portfolio?
The Trust's most transferable lesson is to connect the complete balance sheet to a dated spending plan. Its 13F covered less than 40% of investments at the end of 2025, so copying the stock list omits most of the allocation. The audited accounts add government securities, other bonds and commodities, but do not disclose Treasury maturities or enough derivative detail to reconstruct a crash payoff.
The 2045 deadline makes the order of returns and future gifts central to the funding plan. Our estimated historical returns and no-future-gifts scenarios are analytical illustrations, not the Trust's reported performance or forecast. Copio does not grade the allocation because its single-stock and other exposures cannot be entered cleanly in the checker.
Three checks for your portfolio
- Build one dated household balance sheet. Combine shares, funds, cash, bonds and other investment accounts using the same valuation date. Measure your largest holdings against that full total, and look through overlapping funds before judging sector concentration. Reconcile a brokerage screen with the assets it omits, just as the Trust's audited accounts complete its 13F.
- Test spending with and without future contributions. List planned withdrawals by year, then compare a base case with an early market loss and interrupted contributions. Identify which liquid assets would fund the next withdrawals and how the remaining horizon changes. For bonds, record maturity, duration and currency rather than assuming the word Treasury establishes the payoff.
- Measure the cost you would pay to implement the plan. List fund, platform, advice and trading charges, including any services currently subsidised by an employer or another person. Compare outcomes after those costs over your own spending horizon, using the same return assumptions in each scenario. The Trust records donated management services at about 1.3% of average capital in 2025; that accounting value is not a retail fee quote or a recurring fee forecast.
Our cash-withdrawal study examines early losses during spending; the Harvard study compares investment recovery with a balance that keeps paying out.
FAQ
What are the Gates Foundation Trust's largest holdings?
In its 13F for 30 June 2026, filed on 14 August 2026, the Trust's largest US-listed holdings were Berkshire Hathaway (21.4% of reported 13F value), Caterpillar (19.7%), Canadian National Railway (18.0%), Waste Management (17.3%) and Deere (6.6%). The four largest made up 76.3% of the $34.4bn total.
Does the Gates Foundation still own Microsoft?
Not according to its 13F filings. The Trust reported 39.3 million Microsoft shares at 31 December 2022 and 7.7 million at 31 December 2025, and no Microsoft line at 31 March or 30 June 2026. The filings do not give a reason for the sales.
What does the 13F leave out of the Gates Foundation Trust's portfolio?
The 13F lists mainly US-listed shares. At 31 December 2025 it covered $35.4bn of the Trust's $89.3bn of investments, or 39.6%. The audited statements show the rest, including $22.3bn of US government securities, $5.4bn of other bonds, $4.4bn of commodities, $2.4bn of private investments and shares that the 13F does not cover.
When will the Gates Foundation close?
Bill Gates announced on 8 May 2025 that the foundation will close its doors permanently on 31 December 2045. He expects it to spend more than $200 billion by then, including the balance of the endowment and his future contributions; the exact amount will depend on markets and inflation.
Who manages the Gates Foundation's endowment?
The foundation says the endowment is managed by Cascade Asset Management Company, whose independent investment managers are not directly affiliated with the foundation, with Bill Gates as the Trust's trustee. Warren Buffett has no involvement in its investment, including decisions on Berkshire Hathaway stock.
