Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft has often been described as “The best businessman in the World”. What made Microsoft such a successful company? It doesnt make the best products, it is not a true innovator either. The success of Microsoft is the business acumen of Bill Gates. So what is Bill Gates investing in? Most of his investments are managed through a Private Investment firm called Cascade Investments. There is no way to find out which private companies Cascade invests in but its relatively easy to find their investments in Public Companies because they need to buy so many shares that they usually appear in the top 10 shareholders of the company.

Here is a partial list of companies held by Bill Gates’ Cascade Investments

AGL Resources(ATG)
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
Canadian National Railway (CNI)
Costco (COST)
Fisher Communications Inc (FSCI)
Four Seasons Hotel (FS)
Grupo Televisa (TV)
Otter Tail Corp (OTTR)
Pacific Ethanol (PEIX)
PNM Resources (PNM)
Republic Services (RSG)
Scholastic Corp(SCHL)
Seattle Genetics (SGEN)
Six Flags (SIX)