Bill Gates Spends Nearly $1 Billion to Acquire a Stake in Heineken

Bill Gates reacts during a visit with Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the Imperial College University, in central London, Feb. 15. (Justin Tallis/Pool via AP)

On Friday, Bill Gates, the world’s fifth-richest person, acquired a 3.76% stake in Heineken Holding NV, the parent company of the beer brand Heineken, Business Insider reported.

According to a filing with the Netherlands’ Financial Markets Authority, Gates purchased 6.65 million shares of the company directly and another 4.18 million shares through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.

The value of Gates’ stake was worth about €848 million ($899.4 million) as of the market’s close Friday.

Gates purchased the shares from Mexican company FEMSA, which sold all 18 million shares it held.

This is a bit of an unexpected purchase for Gates, who said in an “Ask Me Anything” thread in 2018 that he’s “not a big beer drinker.”

“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,” Gates wrote in the AMA. “Sorry to disappoint real beer drinkers.”

Beyond his personal beer drinking habits (or lack thereof), this acquisition is surprising for another reason.

Last year, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded a study about the health risks of alcohol consumption. The study proclaimed that “stronger interventions” are needed.

Gates founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 with his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates.

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