$ cat ./records/gatess-cascade-joins-a-4-7-billion-buyout-of-signature-aviation-2021.txt
Gates's Cascade joins a $4.7 billion buyout of Signature Aviation
[RECORD.TXT] · cat --full
In 2021 a consortium including Bill Gates's Cascade Investment, Blackstone, and Global Infrastructure Partners acquired Signature Aviation — the world's largest operator of private-jet bases — in a deal valued at about $4.7 billion. Cascade, already Signature's biggest shareholder, increased its stake through the take-private transaction. The acquisition deepened Gates's exposure to global infrastructure and, notably, to the private-aviation business he personally relies on.
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Related Accomplishments
2026
Gates becomes 'much poorer' in 2026 as he accelerates giving and slips down the wealth rankings
Bill Gates's net worth fell sharply in 2026 as he accelerated his giving, with trackers noting he had become 'much poorer' — Forbes pegged him around $104 billion and 19th on its global ranking, down from his long reign near the top — as he transfers the bulk of his fortune to the Gates Foundation ahead of its 2045 closure. Gates has said he wants to give away about 99% of his wealth and does not want to be remembered as having 'died rich.' Differences between wealth trackers' methodologies, particularly how charitable pledges are counted, produced a wide range of estimates.
February 2026
Gates told Nadella his $1 billion OpenAI bet would 'burn'; Microsoft now holds a ~27% stake
Satya Nadella revealed that Bill Gates had warned him his early $1 billion bet on OpenAI was a mistake, telling the Microsoft CEO 'yeah, you're going to burn this billion dollars.' The gamble instead became one of the most consequential in tech: a 2025 OpenAI restructuring left Microsoft holding roughly a 27% stake valued around $135 billion, alongside a deal for OpenAI to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of Azure services. The anecdote, surfacing in early 2026, highlighted Gates's continued skepticism even as Microsoft's AI bet paid off.
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