Bill Gates: Is there a single family office?

Where does the fortune of Bill Gates come from?

Bill Gates is best known for founding and running Microsoft, one of the world’s most important software companies. Since childhood, Gates has been interested in computer systems and programming. In 1973, Bill Gates began studying at Harvard University, but left in 1975 to concentrate on Microsoft.

Update 2024: Today, Bill Gates has an estimated net worth of $128 billion, while his company, Microsoft, has nearly 221,000 employees and annual revenues of around $211 billion.

How did Gates’ company Microsoft develop?

Microsoft’s first successful product was a BASIC interpreter, launched in 1975. Worldwide success came with the MS-DOS operating system. Today, Microsoft has several different revenue streams. The main product is still Microsoft’s operating systems, which are used by both private and professional users. Microsoft also offers software solutions (such as MS Office) and cloud services (Azure). In 2012, Microsoft entered the personal computer hardware business with its Microsoft Surface laptop. Microsoft’s revenues are growing steadily  and the company is highly profitable. .

Is there a Bill Gates single family office?

Yes, there is. Bill Gates began investing his fortune in 1995 with his own single-family office called Cascade Investment LLC. Cascade is run by Chief Investment Officer Michael Larson and invests primarily in publicly traded companies. A large part of the wealth is managed through the private family office of the Gates family, Cascade Investments.

How is the Bill Gates family office investing?

One interesting fact about the Gates family office is that more than 60% of its assets are invested in equities. By comparison, most family offices have only about a third of their assets in equities. Cascade’s holdings include Ecolab (25%), Canadian National Railway (10%) and Warren Buffet’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway (4%). Gates’ family office Cascade also owns 47% of the privately held Four Seasons Hotels group. In addition to his family office investments, Gates is also active in philanthropy through his Gates Foundation.

Update 2024: Bill Gates’ ex-wife, Melinda Gates, has left the foundation to focus on projects to help women and families. Its financial resources are enormous, amounting to 12.5 billion dollars. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been renamed the Gates Foundation.

This article is part of our detailed report “The single family offices of the richest US families“.

Picture source: Tadas Sar