Billionaire Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates purchased a 3.76% ownership stake in Heineken for $939.87 million Feb. 17, according to a financial filing.
He bought 10.8 million shares of Heineken holding, the parent company of Heineken, for 883 million euros from Mexican retail company FEMSA, leading to a mandatory financial disclosure, Reuters reported. His purchase was disclosed by the Netherlands’ Financial Market Authority (AFM), the country’s stock market regulator. (RELATED: Bill Gates Calls For ‘Toning Down The Rhetoric’ About Conflict With China)
Bill Gates has acquired a minority stake in Heineken, the controlling shareholder of the world’s second-largest brewer https://t.co/NRzt8Ej89f
— Bloomberg Wealth (@wealth) February 22, 2023
Gates’ shares of Heineken were split between his personal wealth and philanthropic arm, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the filing says. His foundation, launched by Gates and ex-wife Melinda, has also bought ownership stakes in Dutch grocer Picnic BV and fertilizer producer OCI NV.
He previously said he’s “not a big beer drinker” during a 2018 “Ask Me Anything” session with Reddit users. “When I end up at something like a baseball game I drink light beer to get with the vibe of all the other beer drinkers. Sorry to disappoint real beer drinkers,” Gates said.
Gates has participated in 11 Reddit AMA sessions, the most recent being in January 2023. One user asked Gates about why he is purchasing U.S. farmland and if he believes billionaire wealth accumulation is a problem. “I own less than 1/4000 of the farmland in the US. I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs,” Gates said. “In terms of the very rich I think they should pay a lot more in taxes and they should give away their wealth over time.”
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2023 budget is $8.3 billion, a 15% increase from 2022 and a new record. His personal net worth stands at $106 billion, according to Forbes Magazine.