Bill Gates foundation sells entire 7.7M Microsoft position: Ackman buys, Berkshire rotates

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation completed a full exit from Microsoft on May 15, selling all 7.7 million shares the foundation had held since inception. The sale comes amid a broader portfolio reshuffle by major institutional investors. Concurrently, Greg Abel, who took over as Berkshire Hathaway CEO in May 2026, disclosed a significant rotation: the conglomerate boosted its Alphabet position while exiting its entire Amazon bet during Q1 2026. The timing and scale of these moves suggest a recalibration of conviction in mega-cap technology exposure.

Meanwhile, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management filed a new Form 13F showing substantial new positions in Microsoft (5.65 million shares, newly acquired) and larger stakes in Amazon (up 1.84 million shares). Ackman's entry into MSFT at February valuations of 21x forward earnings (roughly in line with the broader market and historically cheap relative to Microsoft's own history) contrasts sharply with the Gates Foundation's exit timing. Ackman's commentary suggests conviction in Microsoft's AI infrastructure positioning and OpEx expansion under Satya Nadella, particularly partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic.

The strategic implication is subtle but significant: Gates Foundation sold before a potential inflection in tech valuations tied to AI capex concerns (See: semiconductor weakness above), while Ackman bought on relative valuation and optionality. Berkshire's move to boost Alphabet (Google's parent) and exit Amazon signals caution on AWS profitability amid hyperscaler capex discipline and preference for Google's advertising and search moatA sustainable competitive advantage that protects long-term returns on capital. in a rising-yield environment. These shifts by sophisticated capital allocators are pricing in a possible slowdown in cloud infrastructure spending and a reversion to "old-school" software and advertising models.

Market consensus is divided. Some investors view the Gates Foundation exit as rebalancing a holding that had appreciated dramatically and no longer fit portfolio policy; others see it as a preemptive exit before larger instabilitysets in. Ackman's entry is being interpreted as a contrarian long bet on Microsoft's resilience and the inevitability of AI adoption pushing capex higher for longer, but with more selectivity than the 'all-chips-all-in' narrative of March 2026.