Bill Gates’ latest maxi investment concerns beer: the US tycoon reports Reuters, in fact bought 3.8% of Heineken Holding for 902 million dollars. According to a file filed with Dutch regulator AFM, the Microsoft founder bought 6.65 million shares of Heineken Holding individually and another 4.18 million shares through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.
A maxi investment, despite Gates having said in the past that he is not a beer lover: «When I find myself at something like a baseball game», the entrepreneur had said in a 2018 Ask Me Anything chat session on Reddit, « I drink light beer to at least share the vibe with all the other beer drinkers. I’m sorry to disappoint the true fans.”
The Microsoft founder bought the shares on the same day that Fomento Economico Mexicano Sab (Femsa) sold its shares for 3.7 billion euros. The Mexican multinational which, in addition to controlling a series of stores in Mexico, is the largest bottler of Coca-Cola in the world, has decided to sell all the shares it held in Heineken and which amounted to a total of 18 million. Gates thus bought 10.8 million.