Bill Gates has given away 64 million Microsoft shares in a charity donation
It’s Gates’ biggest donation since the year 2000.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has given away 64 million shares in the company, worth more than four billion dollars in what is believed to be a huge act of philanthropy.
A filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US that was released on Monday showed that Gates had donated the shares rather than sold then – as no price was listed on the filing.
Dated as June 6, the shares are said to have been worth around 4.6 billion dollars.
Gates has already donated tens of millions of shares to the Foundation to help fund its work.
The Foundation itself has not commented on the news.
It reduces the tech entrepreneur’s stake in the company he co-founded to just 1.3%, having held 26% of the company in 1996.
The donation is said to be Gates’ largest since giving away 5.1 billion dollars worth of shares in 2000.
Gates is famously charitable and has already confirmed plans to give away almost his entire fortune – which currently stands at around 86 billion dollars – as part of plans to improve global healthcare and reduce poverty.
Some of the world’s richest people have so far joined, including Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg.
