Breaking down the stocks Bill Gates (Cascade Investment) bought, sold, and held in Q3 2025, including their holdings at the end of the quarter. All data sourced from Cascade Investment's 13F filed on November 14, 2025.
Who are Bill Gates and Cascade Investment?
Cascade Investment is the private investment vehicle managing the personal wealth of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and the assets of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Established in 1995, the firm pursues a long-term value investing approach across diverse sectors including technology, energy, hospitality, and real estate. Michael Larsen, Cascade's CIO, applies a fundamental, long horizon investment approach across asset classes and geographies.
Cascadeassetmanagement.com
Wikipedia on Cascade Investment
Q3 '25 13F filed with SEC
Holdings in Q3 2025
| Ticker | Company | Weight | Change | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRK-B | Berkshire Hathaway | 29.9% | Trimmed (-10%) | $10.94B |
| WM | Waste Management | 17.5% | Trimmed (-10%) | $6.39B |
| CNI | Canadian National | 13.4% | Trimmed (-5%) | $4.89B |
| MSFT | Microsoft | 13.0% | Trimmed (-65%) | $4.76B |
| CAT | Caterpillar | 8.3% | Trimmed (-14%) | $3.03B |
| DE | Deere | 4.4% | $1.63B | |
| ECL | Ecolab | 3.9% | $1.43B | |
| WMT | Walmart | 2.4% | Trimmed (-8%) | $864.72M |
| FDX | FedEx | 1.5% | Trimmed (-6%) | $562.26M |
| KOF | Coca-Cola Femsa | 1.4% | $516.44M | |
| WCN | Waste Connections | 1.0% | Trimmed (-5%) | $358.49M |
| CPNG | Coupang | 0.8% | $297.79M | |
| SDGR | Schrodinger | 0.4% | $140.05M | |
| MSGS | Madison Square Garden Sports | 0.4% | $134.48M | |
| WST | West Pharmaceutical | 0.3% | $116.61M | |
| MCD | McDonald's | 0.3% | $101.77M | |
| BUD | Anheuser-Busch InBev | 0.3% | $101.52M | |
| PCAR | Paccar | 0.3% | $98.32M | |
| DHR | Danaher | 0.2% | $73.95M | |
| KHC | Kraft Heinz | 0.2% | Trimmed (-6%) | $64.39M |
| HRL | Hormel Foods | 0.1% | Trimmed (-5%) | $51.59M |
| ONON | ON | 0.1% | $21.18M | |
| VLTO | Veralto | 0.0% | $13.26M | |
| CCI | Crown Castle | 0.0% | Exited | $-145.88M |
| UPS | UPS | 0.0% | Exited | $-76.22M |
Current Investment Strategy
Bill Gates's Cascade Investment maintained its concentrated, long-horizon value investing approach in Q3 2025, holding a diversified portfolio spanning industrial stalwarts like Deere and Paccar, consumer brands including Coca-Cola Femsa and McDonald's, and technology plays such as Coupang and Schrodinger, while exiting telecommunications infrastructure provider Crown Castle and logistics giant UPS. The firm, managed by CIO Michael Larsen, continued its characteristic fundamental analysis across sectors including industrials, healthcare (Ecolab, West Pharmaceutical), consumer goods (Anheuser-Busch InBev), and entertainment (Madison Square Garden Sports), eschewing new positions in favor of managing its existing 23-stock portfolio.
New Investments
Cascade Investment did not open any new positions during Q3 2025.
Added, Trimmed, and Exited
Added
Cascade Investment did not add any new positions or increase stakes in existing holdings during Q3 2025.
Trimmed
Cascade Investment executed significant trimming across its portfolio, most notably slashing its Microsoft (MSFT) position by 17 million shares—a dramatic 65% reduction from 26.2 million to 9.2 million shares, bringing the position value down from $13 billion to $4.8 billion. Other substantial trims included Waste Management (WM) (-3.3M shares), Canadian National (CNI) (-3M shares), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) (-2.36M shares), and Caterpillar (CAT) (-1M shares). Smaller reductions were made across Walmart (WMT), FedEx (FDX), Kraft Heinz (KHC), Hormel Foods (HRL), and Waste Connections (WCN).
What it means: The massive Microsoft reduction represents a major de-risking move for Bill Gates' investment vehicle, potentially driven by valuation concerns or a desire to reduce concentration risk in what had been their largest position. The broad-based trimming across both winners (Caterpillar +6.2%) and losers (Hormel Foods -22.3%) suggests systematic portfolio rebalancing rather than performance-based selling. The negative returns on many industrial and consumer staples positions (Waste Management -13.4%, Canadian National -14.3%) indicate Cascade may be repositioning ahead of economic uncertainty or shifting capital allocation priorities.
Exited
Cascade Investment completely liquidated two positions: Crown Castle (CCI), selling 1.42 million shares valued at $145.9 million, and UPS (UPS), exiting 755,089 shares worth $76.2 million.
What it means: Both exits center on infrastructure and logistics—Crown Castle as a telecom tower REIT and UPS as a global logistics provider. This retreat from infrastructure plays, combined with the FedEx trim, suggests Cascade may be rotating out of capital-intensive businesses facing pressure from elevated interest rates or questioning the growth outlook for logistics amid potential economic softening. The $222 million in freed capital from these exits, alongside the major Microsoft reduction, positions the firm with significant dry powder for future opportunities.
Disclaimer: All posts are for informational purposes only. They are NOT a recommendation to buy or sell the securities discussed. Please do your own research and due diligence before investing your money.
