The charitable foundation of Microsoft co-chairman and founder Bill Gates has completely liquidated its stake in the technology giant. The Gates Foundation Trust, which manages the organization's financial assets, officially reported the successful sale of its last 7.7 million shares in the world's largest software developer. Analysts estimate the total market value of the divested securities portfolio at approximately $3.2 billion at the time of the transaction.

According to the official financial report submitted by the trust to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the large-scale divestment of the parent corporation's assets was fully completed during the first quarter of this year. This transaction completed a systematic process of reducing the big tech company's presence within the foundation's structure; as recently as last spring, the organization held a substantial stake of 28.5 million shares worth over $10 billion. Investment managers from Cascade Asset Management, the firm that oversees the fund, declined to comment publicly, but experts point out that Bill Gates remains the fund's sole trustee and personally determines the direction of key financial investments. Notably, the charitable organization's complete sell-off of its stake has not affected the billionaire's personal investment portfolio, which, according to industry sources, continues to directly hold 103 million shares of the software giant, worth a whopping $43 billion.

In parallel with the exit of its IT position, in the first three months of the year, the investment trust also partially recorded profits and reduced its exposure to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment empire and waste management company Waste Management. Nevertheless, the shares of these two giants still form a conservative core and remain among the largest positions in Gates' diversified portfolio. Among the fund's other large, untouched stakes this quarter are multibillion-dollar investments in the transportation sector through Canadian National Railway, heavy machinery through Caterpillar and Deere & Co, environmental solutions company Ecolab, and retail through Walmart.

Microsoft's current stock price has shown moderate stability, but since the beginning of the year, the company's market capitalization has fallen by more than 12%, clearly underperforming the market average. The main factors putting pressure on the American software leader's position have been a general correction in the software development sector, as well as intensified technological competition in the field of artificial intelligence from Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude chatbots. Despite this, the vast majority of global market analysts remain firmly confident in the corporation's long-term sustainability, maintaining a buy rating on its shares, while investment funds like billionaire Bill Ackman's Pershing Square are actively exploiting the current price decline to increase their positions. Additional context for Gates' actions is his recent announcement of his intention to completely wind down the foundation within twenty years and give away all his accumulated wealth, lest he retire as a billionaire.