Bill Gates Held This 'Garbage' Stock Since 2008 — And He's Still Buying
Microsoft founder Bill Gates isn’t cashing out of his favorite waste hauler — he’s piling in even harder.
Cascade Investment, Gates’ private investment vehicle, is executing an extended buying streak in Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG), snapping up roughly 534,000 additional shares on Sept. 1 and Sept. 2 worth an estimated $119.1 million, according to a new SEC Form 4 filing.
The new filing pushes Cascade’s total spend on Republic Services stock since Aug. 25 to roughly $424.8 million across 25 separate open-market purchases, spanning 1.92 million shares, at prices ranging from about $220 to $224 a share.
Because Cascade already owns more than 10% of Republic Services, it is required to disclose its trades within days rather than waiting for a quarterly 13F, giving an unusually granular look at how aggressively Gates has been buying.
See More: Top Value Stocks
A day-by-day breakdown of the buying spree:
| Date | Shares | Est. Value |
| Aug. 25 | 269,477 | $59.8 million |
| Aug. 26 | 275,500 | $61.0 million |
| Aug. 27 | 284,600 | $62.5 million |
| Aug. 28 | 251,400 | $55.6 million |
| Aug. 31 | 301,000 | $66.8 million |
| Sept. 1 | 204,800 | $45.6 million |
| Sept. 2 | 329,200 | $73.5 million |
Trash Pick-Up
Gates has held a position in Republic Services since 2008, making it one of Cascade’s longest-running concentrated holdings outside of his stake in Berkshire Hathaway.
After the latest round of buying, Cascade now holds an estimated 115 million shares of the company — a stake that underscores just how central the trash and recycling giant has become to Gates’s personal portfolio.
Republic Services is the second-largest waste and recycling operator in the U.S., behind only Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM), and has long been viewed by investors as a defensive, cash-generative business with pricing power and steady demand regardless of economic conditions — the kind of “boring but reliable” profile that fits Gates’s long-horizon investing style.
The size and cadence of the buying — five-figure share blocks on nearly every trading day for more than a week — signals conviction rather than a one-off rebalancing move.
With Cascade required to report further purchases in near real time, traders can expect more Form 4 filings if the buying continues.
Photo: Shutterstock