Bill Gates donates $4.6 billion worth of Microsoft stock to his foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world is working to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries like India, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it is focused on helping people—especially those with the fewest resources to have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life.

According to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates donated 64 million Microsoft shares worth about $4.6 billion to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This is the largest gift of Microsoft shares that Bill Gates has made in 15 years.

“Gates has probably directed more than 700 million shares of Microsoft into the foundation, adjusting for stock splits. Those would be worth about $50 billion today had he held onto them,” noted Bloomberg.

With this donation, Gates’ ownership of Microsoft shares have dipped below 2 percent for the first time, he now owns about 1.3 percent. Steve Ballmer remains the largest individual shareholder of Microsoft.