$ cat ./records/gates-buys-a-6-stake-in-spanish-construction-giant-fcc-2013.txt
Gates Buys a 6% Stake in Spanish Construction Giant FCC
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In October 2013, Bill Gates — through his investment vehicle Cascade Investment — paid about €113.5 million (roughly $155 million) for a 6% stake in Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), one of Spain's largest construction and environmental-services groups, making him its second-largest shareholder. The contrarian bet on a debt-laden builder as Spain emerged from financial crisis was characteristic of Cascade's value-oriented strategy of taking large positions in unglamorous, essential-economy companies far from the technology world.
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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.
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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.
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