$ cat ./records/gates-bets-early-on-the-internet-in-the-sky-with-teledesic-and-lo-1994.txt
Gates Bets Early on the 'Internet in the Sky' With Teledesic — and Loses
[RECORD.TXT] · cat --full
Decades before Starlink, Bill Gates chased satellite internet. In the early 1990s he teamed with cellular billionaire Craig McCaw to back Teledesic, an audacious plan to blanket the planet with hundreds of low-orbit satellites — originally 840 — delivering high-speed 'internet in the sky.' Teledesic raised close to a billion dollars from backers including Boeing, Motorola, and a Saudi prince, but launched only a single test satellite before collapsing; it suspended work in 2002. The failure foreshadowed both the promise and the difficulty of the satellite-broadband bets Gates would keep making for decades.
Free forever · No ads · Solo developer
If this was worth a read, help make the next entry possible.
Every entry in this archive was researched, verified, and written by one person — for free. No corporate funding. No ad revenue. Just a developer who believes verified history should be accessible to everyone. Your donation directly funds new entries.
Crypto accepted · No subscription required
← Previous
Pen-Computing Pioneer GO Corp. Accused Microsoft of Stealing Its Technology
Next →
Microsoft's Coercive 'Per-Processor' Licensing Triggers Its First Antitrust Decree
[CROSS_REFERENCES] · grep --category='Business'
Related Accomplishments
2026
Gates Foundation Trust Sells Off the Last of Its Microsoft Stock
In the first quarter of 2026, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust sold its remaining Microsoft shares, fully exiting a position in the very company that created Gates's fortune — capping a long, deliberate diversification away from the stock. The endowment that funds Gates's philanthropy, managed separately from its grant-making through Cascade, is now anchored instead by Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, railroads, and heavy-equipment makers. The sale underscored how thoroughly Gates's giving had decoupled from Microsoft's day-to-day fortunes.
2026
Gates's Charitable Endowment Is Now Led by Berkshire, Not Microsoft
By 2026, the publicly disclosed stock portfolio of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust — the endowment that funds Gates's philanthropy — was led not by Microsoft but by Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, Canadian National Railway, Caterpillar, and Deere. Decades of diversification, plus Warren Buffett's stock gifts, left it concentrated in railroads, waste, heavy equipment, and Buffett's conglomerate, while Microsoft — the source of the original fortune — had largely been sold down. The unglamorous, value-oriented mix reflects the long stewardship of Gates's money manager, Michael Larson, through Cascade Investment.
[ARCHIVE_FUNDING] · INDEPENDENT · NO ADS
One developer. >300 verified entries. Zero ads. Forever free.
No sponsors, no paywall, no algorithm. If this archive has been useful to you, reader support is what keeps it running.