As of Q3 2025, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust’s portfolio stands at $36.58 billion, marking a substantial decrease from the previous quarter’s $47.78 billion. This quarter saw unprecedented portfolio restructuring, with the trust reducing positions across the board. The most dramatic change was a nearly two-thirds reduction in Microsoft holdings, alongside significant reductions in Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, Canadian National Railway, and Caterpillar. These strategic moves suggest major portfolio rebalancing or capital reallocation for the foundation’s philanthropic mission.

Major Reductions:

• Microsoft (MSFT): -64.91% (-17,000,000 shares) → Impact: -24.07% to portfolio
• Caterpillar (CAT): -13.60% (-1,000,000 shares) → Impact: -1.30% to portfolio
• Waste Management (WM): -10.24% (-3,300,000 shares) → Impact: -1.99% to portfolio
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B): -9.78% (-2,358,460 shares) → Impact: -3.24% to portfolio
• Walmart (WMT): -7.70% (-700,000 shares) → Impact: -0.20% to portfolio
• FedEx (FDX): -5.92% (-150,000 shares) → Impact: -0.10% to portfolio
• Kraft Heinz (KHC): -5.72% (-150,000 shares) → Impact: -0.01% to portfolio
• Canadian National Railway (CNI): -5.47% (-3,000,000 shares) → Impact: -0.77% to portfolio
• Waste Connections (WCN): -5.12% (-110,000 shares) → Impact: -0.05% to portfolio
• Hormel Foods (HRL): -5.01% (-110,000 shares) → Impact: -0.01% to portfolio

Capital Deployment for Philanthropy: The massive portfolio reduction strongly suggests the foundation is converting investment assets into capital for philanthropic deployment. With global challenges in health, education, and poverty requiring immediate resources, the trust may be liquidating positions to fund urgent initiatives.

Technology Profit-Taking: The dramatic Microsoft reduction may represent profit-taking after years of extraordinary gains in AI and cloud computing. With Microsoft’s stock having appreciated substantially, the trust may be monetizing gains while they remain strong.

Risk Reduction: The broad-based portfolio downsizing could indicate a more defensive posture in response to market valuations, economic uncertainty, or changing investment priorities. Reducing concentrated positions across the board suggests prudent risk management.

Mission-Driven Rebalancing: The selective preservation of certain positions (agriculture, healthcare, environmental solutions) while heavily reducing others suggests the trust is realigning its portfolio more closely with the foundation’s core mission areas rather than pure financial optimization.

Q3 2025 marks a transformational period for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust portfolio. The dramatic reduction from $47.78 billion to $36.58 billion — driven primarily by the massive 64.91% Microsoft divestiture — represents the most significant portfolio restructuring in the trust’s recent history.

This strategic pivot appears to serve multiple purposes: monetizing substantial technology gains accumulated over years, generating capital for urgent philanthropic deployment, reducing portfolio concentration risk, and potentially realigning investments more closely with the foundation’s core mission. The trust’s decision to maintain Berkshire Hathaway as the anchor position at 29.91% suggests confidence in diversified value investing during this transitional period.

The preserved positions in agriculture (Deere), environmental solutions (Ecolab), and healthcare (West Pharmaceutical) indicate the trust continues prioritizing holdings that align with the foundation’s mission to improve global health, reduce poverty, and expand educational opportunities. This quarter’s actions demonstrate that while the portfolio serves as an investment vehicle, its ultimate purpose remains supporting one of the world’s most impactful philanthropic organizations.

The coming quarters will reveal whether this represents a one-time capital raise for specific initiatives or the beginning of a more sustained shift in the trust’s investment approach and the foundation’s philanthropic strategy.