The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has been a major player in global philanthropy, distributing over $77 billion in grants since its establishment.
Funded by the BMGF Trust, which held assets totaling $48 billion as of June 2024, the foundation’s investments are heavily weighted in Microsoft (33%) and Berkshire Hathaway (21%). These strategic investments have allowed the trust to outperform the S&P 500 by 10 percentage points over the last three years, underscoring Bill Gates’ confidence in these companies.
Microsoft, the leading global software provider, excels in business productivity and cloud computing. Its Azure cloud platform is expected to rival Amazon Web Services (AWS) by 2027.
Despite recent challenges including market share declines and a weaker fourth-quarter performance, experts remain hopeful about Microsoft’s prospects, although the stock is currently viewed as pricey.
Berkshire Hathaway, under the leadership of Warren Buffett, is a major diversified holding company with a strong foothold in the insurance sector. The company’s prudent investment strategies and substantial portfolio are projected to drive a 17% annual increase in operating income through 2027. Berkshire is considered a solid defensive investment, particularly beneficial during economic downturns.
Investors might need to be wary of Microsoft’s current high valuation but could find Berkshire Hathaway appealing for its consistent growth and defensive attributes.
Tether is deepening its involvement in the tokenized gold space by introducing a new version of its gold-backed stablecoin—XAUt0—on The Open Network (TON).
Robinhood has officially announced the acquisition of Bitstamp, one of Europe’s longest-standing digital asset exchanges.
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin has received the green light from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), paving the way for its use in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao is once again stirring innovation in crypto, this time calling for a new kind of decentralized exchange (DEX) that prioritizes privacy for large-scale traders.