The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has filed its record of holdings at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. The firm held 26 different stocks at the end of the quarter, and its entire portfolio was worth $16,788,721,000.
The firm’s largest holding, by a huge distance, was in B Class Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B). The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, however, dropped 6.7% of its holding in the company in the fourth quarter of 2012. The foundation now holds 87,081,373 in Warren Buffett’s company. That holding makes up 46.53% of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s entire holdings.
Warren Buffett is the third trustee in the foundation after Bill & Melinda Gates and made an agreement with the foundation to donate 10 million shares to the foundation if certain goals were met. Buffett’s involvement, and his donations in the form of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) shares, explain the large stake the foundation held in the company.
The second biggest holding of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO). The foundation increased its holding in the firm by 45.33%. The foundation now holds 34,002,000 shares in the Coca-Cola and that holding makes up 7.34% of the firm’s equity holdings.
