IThome reported on May 16 that, according to Barron's Weekly on May 15 local time, the charitable foundation of Microsoft founder Bill Gates has divested all its Microsoft shares.

The foundation's endowment fund, the Gates Foundation Trust, disclosed on Friday that it has sold its remaining 7.7 million shares, which, at the current price, are worth approximately $3.2 billion (Note from IThome: equivalent to about 21.833 billion yuan at the current exchange rate).

The foundation no longer holds any Microsoft stock, marking the formal end of a decades-long equity relationship between Bill Gates' philanthropic system and the tech giant he founded.

According to relevant documents, a year ago, the Gates Foundation Trust still held 28.5 million shares of Microsoft stock, with a market value of approximately $10.7 billion (about 73.005 billion RMB at the current exchange rate), accounting for about 26% of the fund's assets. The sole trustee of the fund is Bill Gates himself. Although the investment portfolio is managed by Cascade Asset Management, Bill Gates still has significant influence over investment decisions.

This sale is also consistent with Bill Gates' recent philanthropic planning direction. Bill Gates announced last year that the foundation's operations will be gradually phased out over the next 20 years , and during this period, all assets will be fully devoted to charitable purposes, rather than permanently retaining the fund's scale.

Market analysts believe that the sale of Microsoft shares may be part of the foundation's asset reallocation and long-term spending plan.

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