Bill Gates: 15 Costco Wholesale transactions (Bill & Melinda Gates (2024)

FAQs

How much of Costco does Bill Gates own? ›

Bill Gates Costco Wholesale Corp

The first Costco Wholesale trade was made in Q3 2002. Since then Bill Gates bought shares ten more times and sold shares on four occasions. The investor sold all their shares in Q4 2012 and doesn't own any shares in Costco Wholesale anymore.

Gates' mother, Gates' host, asked everyone around the table to identify what they believed was the most important factor in their success. Both Gates and Buffett gave the same answer: "Focus." To quote Rudyard Kipling, "twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools," I am an advocate for leadership, life, and work focus.

In January 2023, it approved the foundation's annual budget for the first time. At $8.3 billion, it is the largest budget in the foundation's history.

As co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates shapes and approves foundation strategies, advocates for the foundation's issues, and sets the organization's overall direction.

Costco is a publicly traded company, meaning it is owned by its shareholders. There is no single owner.

The top individual insider shareholders of Costco are Craig Jelinek, Charles Munger, and Patrick Callans, and the top institutional shareholders are Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc., and State Street Corp.

Buffett has told Gates that you have to be able to ignore the market instead of following it. Buffett believes that shareholders should pretend they own the entire business. This includes investing in the future profits and value of the company instead of thinking only about the current situation.

His fortune is largely tied to his investment company.

The vast majority of Buffett's net worth is tied to Berkshire Hathaway, his publicly traded conglomerate that owns businesses like Geico and See's Candies and holds multibillion-dollar stakes in companies like Apple and Coca-Cola.

Bill Gates acquired his wealth by starting his own business. Warren Buffett is an investor. Though technically he started his own business, too, Buffett built his wealth by investing in other businesses. Bill Gates made his money by owning Microsoft.

According to the EdelGive Foundation and Hurun Report 2021, the founder of Tata Group, Jamsetji Tata, has been recognized as the most charitable person of the past century, having donated a staggering Rs 829,734 crore.

What is the biggest charity in the world? ›

The largest charitable foundation in terms of world total assets is the Novo Nordisk Foundation in Copenhagen, Denmark with assets of $49.1 billion. A close second is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with funds of 46.8 billion. Catholic Charities is a network of charities with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

In numerous papers over the past decade, researchers have raised concerns about the foundation's lack of transparency, its veto power over other global health institutions, and its spending priorities. Some experts worry that the Gateses' health philanthropy has become too big to scrutinize.

Key Takeaways. Institutional investors are the majority owners of Microsoft, accounting for almost 70% of outstanding shares. Former CEO Steve Ballmer owns a 4% stake in Microsoft, more than its founder Bill Gates, who holds a 1.3% stake.

127.4 billion USD (2024)

Bill Gates / Net worth

Melinda Gates was previously married to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Their high-profile divorce was finalized in 2021. In recent years, Melinda Gates has stayed out of the spotlight but is now making headlines for her new relationship. Melinda Gates is now dating Jon Du Pre.

Costco Wholesale

But there's one dominant retailer that isn't on the list. It might come as a surprise that legendary investor Warren Buffett doesn't own Costco Wholesale (COST 0.02%) shares. This is even more shocking when you realize his right-hand man, Charlie Munger, is a large shareholder.

Some of the highest wages a worker can make at Costco are in the job titles Registered Pharmacist ($136,000), and title Full Stack Software Engineer ($133,750) which are the highest paying jobs at Costco.

Now, according to TipRanks' ownership page, public companies and individual investors own 45.82% of COST. They are followed by other institutional investors, mutual funds, and insiders at 35.93%, 17.42%, and 0.83%, respectively.