The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust placed big bets on technology titans in the first quarter, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The trust, which manages the assets of the world’s largest private foundation, revealed new positions in Apple, Amazon, Google-parent Alphabet, Alibaba, and Twitter. Its stakes in the first four were valued between $100 million and $130 million each on March 31, while its Twitter holdings were worth about $7 million.
The trust also revealed a $301 million stake in Schrodinger following the drug-discovery software group’s public debut in February. The only other change to its portfolio was the sale of five million Berkshire Hathaway shares, representing 10% of its stake in Warren Buffett’s conglomerate.
The cut to its biggest holding is no surprise: Buffett is a close friend of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, and gifts shares to their foundation each year to help finance its philanthropy.
The trust’s flurry of purchases did little to soften the blow from the coronavirus sell-off. Its portfolio shrunk in value by 19% to about $17.4 billion, as FedEx, UPS, Liberty Global, Walmart, and other holdings suffered share-price declines.
Gates has emerged as a leading commentator on the COVID-19 outbreak due to his deep experience in fighting diseases and vaccinating populations, and his warning of a pandemic back in 2015.
The philanthropist recently said his foundation is giving “total attention” to the pandemic, and expects to spend billions constructing vaccine factories.