The Gates Foundation Trust’s latest portfolio disclosure shows a highly concentrated allocation that leans on liquidity, dividends, and operating resilience in essential services. As of 30 June 2025, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, and Waste Management together represented about 67 percent of the trust’s reported U.S. equity holdings, anchored by 26.19 million Microsoft shares valued at roughly 13.03 billion, 24.12 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares at 11.72 billion, and 32.23 million Waste Management shares at 7.38 billion.
The concentration is deliberate and stable. The underlying figures come directly from the trust’s Form 13F information table filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Concentration Drives Funding Capacity
Subject to market swings, concentration can simplify the job of converting gains and dividends into grants that must flow predictably. The Foundation explains the structure plainly, noting that “The Foundation Trust holds the endowment, including the annual installments of Warren Buffett’s gift, and funds the foundation,” a separation that also clarifies that Bill Gates serves as trustee while Cascade Asset Management manages the endowment.
This setup matters because the trust must balance near term grant making with long duration capital stewardship, so it favours issuers with scale, recurring cash flows, and deep markets that support orderly monetization when required, which the current top three provide in different ways through software, diversified operating businesses, and regulated waste services. The governance and role description is explicit on the Foundation’s site.
Infrastructure Exposure Remains Material
Beyond technology holdings, the trust’s infrastructure exposure is material. Waste Management’s footprint, which includes more than 250 active landfill sites across North America, confers route density, disposal capacity, and pricing power that are hard to replicate, while also producing renewable natural gas and electricity that diversify cash flows. Canadian readers may note that the trust also holds 54.83 million shares of Canadian National Railway, a core freight corridor operator whose scale and rights of way underpin continental trade and domestic supply chains, though CNI sits just outside the top three by value. Defensive earnings and high barriers to entry help stabilise distributions that ultimately finance grants. These positions sit alongside a smaller stake in Waste Connections, adding further exposure to regulated, rate base like cash generation in essential municipal services.
Buffett’s Annual Gift Reinforces Holdings
Participial, underpinning this portfolio design is Warren Buffett’s annual conversion and donation of Berkshire Hathaway shares, which in 2025 amounted to roughly 6 billion of additional stock across five foundations, including the Gates Foundation. The cadence of that gift, and the requirement that the foundation spend promptly against it while meeting standard private foundation distribution rules, favours an endowment posture that can raise cash without impairing long term return potential, so liquid mega caps and essential service operators remain natural anchors.
The lines are also cleanly drawn institutionally, as “The foundation and its staff have no influence on Foundation Trust investment decisions,” a point that reduces perceived conflicts as the trust monetises dividends and, when needed, sells shares to fund programmes in global health, education, and climate. The latest 13F filing confirms that the trust’s top five holdings, including Canadian National Railway and Caterpillar after the top three, still account for the vast majority of reported U.S. equities, keeping the strategy concentrated but straightforward to execute.