The endowment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, closely watched because of its value focus and close association with Warren Buffett, was incrementally adding to positions in its portfolio during the third quarter of 2009 . {”s” : “bp,brk-a,brk-b,cat,ko,mcd,msft,wm,wmt,xom”,”k” : “c10,l10,p20,t10″,”o” : “”,”j” : “”} Bill Gates has famously set aside a major portion of the substantial wealth he accrued as Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT – News ) founder for his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which, with assets of nearly $30.2 billion as of June 30, 2009, is the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world. It aims, among other things, to combat poverty and address a number of global health issues. The Foundation counts Gates’ friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett among its trustees. Buffett made headlines in 2006 when he pledged $30 billion in Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A – News , BRK-B – News ) stock to the Gates’ charitable efforts. While Gates’ money is managed by his investment officer, Michael Larson, his proximity to Buffett leads many to believe that he may be privy to the thinking of the world’s most famous investor. In June, Gates told Fortune Magazine “I’ve gotten a lot of great advice from Warren.” Looking at the Gates Foundation’s holdings from the end of Q3 , one can see that the endowment was adding to its massive Berkshire Hathaway stake. Elsewhere, Gates was making limited moves, adding shares of fast food chain McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD – News ), beverage maker Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO – News ), heavy equipment maker Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT – News ), and waste services firm Waste Management (NYSE: WM – News ). The Gates Foundation also held steady with large stakes in energy giants Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM – News ) and BP (NYSE: BP – News ) and discount retailer Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT – News ). Looking at tickerspy.com’s graph charting the performance of the Gates Foundation’s end-of-Q3 top holdings so far this quarter, one can see that they are keeping pace with the market. If you want to see how your performance stacks up to the Gates Foundation’s or see some of his other holdings, visit tickerspy.com to see the endowment’s top positions and a chart of their combined performance . Pro portfolio performance is based on institutions’ top-15 holdings as disclosed in quarter-end filings with the SEC. Pro performance does not take into account additional holdings beyond the top 15 nor does it include positions that are not required to be disclosed by the SEC. As such, Pro portfolio performance should be considered an approximation and not a precise record of how an institution has performed over time. Fun and informative, tickerspy.com is a free investing website where you can track multiple stock portfolios and compare against 250 proprietary Indexes tracking themes from stem cells to green energy to precious metals. Best of all, tickerspy.com lets you spy on the portfolios of nearly 3,000 Wall Street institutions and hedge funds and see graphs of their performance. Try tickerspy.com today and find out how you stack up against investing legends like Warren Buffett! Read this articl e: Bill Gates Foundation Shares Buffett’s Value Focus (Indie Research)
Buffett’s Berkshire acquires ExxonMobil stake (AP)
OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett’s company bought a nearly $60 million stake in Exxon Mobil Corp., and cut its holdings in oil rival ConocoPhillips during the third quarter. {”s” : “bni,brk-b,cop,msft,wmt,xom”,”k” : “c10,l10,p20,t10″,”o” : “”,”j” : “”} Berkshire Hathaway Inc. also significantly increased its holdings in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the three months ended Sept. 30. Omaha-based Berkshire disclosed the changes to its $59.7 billion U.S. stock portfolio in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday. During the quarter, Berkshire Hathaway bought nearly 855,000 shares of Exxon Mobil. Its stake in ConocoPhillips was cut from more than 64 million shares at the end of June to more than 57 million shares, valued at nearly $2.6 billion. Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Wal-Mart, valued at $1.65 billion, stood at 33.6 million shares at the end of September, up from nearly 20 million at the end of June. A separate filing Monday by the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation showed it raised its stake in Berkshire Hathaway to more than 1.6 million Class B shares, worth $3,431 apiece, from 1.25 million. Those shares are to be split 50-to-1 under Berkshire’s Nov. 3 deal to acquire Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., the nation’s second-largest railroad. Berkshire has agreed to pay $26.3 billion in cash and stock for the 77.4 percent of the company it doesn’t now own, valuing the entire company at $34 billion. Buffett has been a key donor to the Gates Foundation, with plans to give 10 million B shares in a series of annual gifts. Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp.’s co-founder, is a friend and philanthropic ally of Buffett. Another filing Monday shows financier George Soros’ company, Soros Fund Management LLC, increased its stake in Berkshire to 10 Class A shares — valued at around $103,000 apiece — from the previous four. Soros also acquired 200 Class B shares. Berkshire’s holdings reports are closely followed because of Buffett’s legendary reputation as a savvy investor able to spot stock market bargains and then sell holdings that get overpriced. The filing does not differentiate between investments Berkshire makes, investments any of its subsidiaries make, or investments Buffett himself makes. In addition to its investments, Berkshire owns dozens of operating companies across a wide range of industries. See the original post: Buffett’s Berkshire acquires ExxonMobil stake (AP)