Cascade Investment

Cascade Investment, L.L.C.
Company typePrivate
IndustryInvestments
Conglomerate
Founded1995 (1995)
FounderBill Gates
Headquarters,
United States
Key people
Bill Gates (Chairman)
Michael Larson (CIO)
Total assetsUS$70 billion (2021)
OwnerBill Gates
Number of employees
100[1]
Subsidiaries
  • Front Range Investment Holdings LLC
  • Cottonwood Management LLC
  • Lakeland Sands Florida, LLC

Cascade Investment, L.L.C. is an American holding company and private investment firm headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, United States. [2] It is controlled by Bill Gates, and managed by Michael Larson.[3] More than half of Gates's fortune is held in assets outside his holding of Microsoft shares.[4] Cascade is the successor company to Dominion Income Management, the former investment vehicle for Gates's holdings, which was managed by convicted felon Andrew Evans.[5]

Larson reportedly directs Cascade's investments through Bill and Melinda Gates Investments, a firm that also manages the portfolios of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other connected entities.[6] Larson accrued over the twenty years from 1995 an 11% compound annual return,[6] and as of 2014 had 100 employees working under his direction.[1] In 2021, Cascade drew attention due to allegations of toxic work environment caused by Larson.[7]

With 269,000 acres of farmland (which has been historically countercyclical to the stock market) being held through a wide network of shell companies, Cascade Investment is the largest farmland owner in the United States.[8]

Cascade has managed Gates' stake in Canadian National Railway since 2013.[9] This constituted one of the investment firm's largest holdings.[10] In 2022, the company sold $940 million worth of stocks, whittling Gates' stake down to 1.4 percent.[9]

  1. ^ a b Bort, Julie (September 20, 2014). "Meet Bill Gates' Investment Manager". Slate. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  2. ^ "Cascade Investment (Bill and Melinda Gates Investments (BMGI)) - Family Office, United States - SWFI".
  3. ^ Das, Anupreeta; Karmin, Craig (September 19, 2014). "This Man's Job: Make Bill Gates Richer". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  4. ^ Miller, Matthew (March 5, 2008). "Gates No Longer World's Richest Man". Forbes. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  5. ^ Torres, Craig (March 7, 1993). "Convicted Felons Handle Gates Fortune". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Warwick-Ching, Lucy (October 21, 2015). "Cascade Investment, Bill Gates' wealth manager". Financial Times. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  7. ^ Das, Anupreeta; Flitter, Emily; Kulish, Nicholas (2021-05-26). "A Culture of Fear at the Firm That Manages Bill Gates's Fortune". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  8. ^ "Bill Gates uses farmland as an investment outlet buying up potato, carrot and onion farms". NBC News.
  9. ^ a b Dolan, Kerry A. "Bill Gates Transferred Billions Of Dollars' Worth Of These Two Stocks To The Gates Foundation". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  10. ^ "Bill Gates Sells $940 Million of CN Rail Stock, Trimming Stake to 9%". Bloomberg.com. 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-12-28.

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