Cascade Investment, L.L.C. is an American

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

and private

investment firm An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under the ...

headquartered in

Kirkland, Washington Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. A suburb east of Seattle, its population was 92,175 in the 2020 U.S. census which made it the sixth largest city in the county and the twelfth largest in the state. The city's downto ...

, United States. It is controlled by

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, and managed by

Michael Larson Paul Michael Larson (May 10, 1949 – February 16, 1999) was an American television game show contestant from Ohio who appeared on the CBS program ''Press Your Luck'' in 1984. Larson is notable for winning US$110,237 () in cash and prizes, at the ...

. More than half of Gates's fortune is held in assets outside his holding of

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

shares. 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. Larson controls Bill and Melinda Gates Investments as

Chief Investment Officer The chief investment officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of investments within an organization. The CIO's purpose is to understand, manage, and monitor their organization's portfolio of assets, devise strategies for growth, act as ...

, and as such manages Gates's personal wealth through Cascade, "as well as handling the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust endowment." Cascade "does not like to call itself" a

family office A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a wealthy family, generally one with at least $50-$100 million in investable assets, with the goal being to effectively grow and transfer w ...

and Bill and Melinda Gates Investments "does not label itself as a family office." Larson accrued over the twenty years from 1995 an 11%

compound annual return Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a business and investing specific term for the geometric progression ratio that provides a constant rate of return over the time period. CAGR is not an accounting term, but it is often used to describe some ele ...

, and as of 2014 had 100 employees working under his direction. 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.

Notable investments

References

External links

Investment companies of the United States Bill Gates Conglomerate companies of the United States Holding companies of the United States Companies based in Kirkland, Washington American companies established in 1995 Financial services companies established in 1995 Holding companies established in 1995 1995 establishments in Washington (state) Privately held companies based in Washington (state) {{US-finance-company-stub