The freshly disclosed 13-F filings show that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust has completely sold off its remaining 7.7 million shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT stock) in Q1 of 2026. The stake was worth approximately $3.2 billion in Q1 when the sell-off was initiated. This was a planned 20-year asset wind-down for liquidity and has nothing to do with Microsoft’s performance.
However, Bill Gates personally still holds 103 million shares of Microsoft worth roughly $43 billion in his portfolio. The complete sell-off was conducted by the philanthropy arm, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. This officially brings the Trust’s Microsoft stock holdings to zero. Also, on the exact day of the 13F filing, billionaire Bill Ackman’s investment arm Pershing Square disclosed that they had sold Alphabet’s Google stock and reinvested the profits in Microsoft.
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While one Foundation Sells Microsoft Stock, Another Billionaire Buys MSFT
Hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman revealed that he bought 5.65 million Microsoft shares for $2.3 billion. He also called MSFT a “highly compelling valuation play,” but stressed that his exit from Google stock to Microsoft has nothing to do with Alphabet’s performance. He clarified that the sell-off was due to profits and is reinvesting the funds into MSFT for bigger returns. “Selling Google is not a bet against the company. We are very bullish on Alphabet’s long-term prospects, but given current valuation considerations within our finite capital base, we used Google as a source of funds to buy Microsoft,” he said.
Microsoft stock opened Monday’s trading session at $418. MSFT has remained rangebound for a month with little to no price traction. While Wall Street analysts estimate it could be consolidating, the others are waiting for it to fall to the $390 to $380 range. An accumulation phase from here could ignite better chances of generating profits after the market stabilizes.