Small BusinessGates foundation exits pharma cos to enter energy
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, created by the billionaire founder of Microsoft Corp, sold almost all its pharmaceutical holdings, including Wyeth, Merck & Co and Eli Lilly & Co, and bought shares of energy companies.
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The foundation also sold stakes in Pfizer Inc, Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, Baxter International Inc and BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc as of June 30, according to a US regulatory filing on Friday. The foundation held on to a stake in cancer drug developer Seattle Genetics Inc, and bought energy stocks such as Devon Energy Corp.
The total value of the foundation’s investments listed in the filing dropped to $7.49 billion last quarter, from $8.48 billion in the previous three months. The foundation, which has an endowment of $30.2 billion, devotes two-thirds of its donations to health and the rest on education, hunger and poverty.
The foundation also bought stakes in energy companies XTO Energy Inc, Range Resources Corp and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. Other new holdings included America Movil SAB, Latin America’s largest mobile-phone company, and M&T Bank Corp, whose second-biggest shareholder is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Michael Larson, who manages the foundation’s investments, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
Money managers who oversee more than $100 million in equities must file a Form 13F within 45 days of each quarter’s end to disclose their US-listed stocks, options and convertible bonds. The filings don’t show non-US securities or how much cash the firms hold.