Having cofounded the world’s largest software company, Microsoft, Bill Gates is one of the richest people in the world, worth an estimated $152 billion, according to Forbes. While he and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates have donated a decent portion of their fortune through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (which remains intact despite their divorce), they also acquired a handful of luxury properties across the U.S. during their 27-year marriage.
But Gates let one of his properties go recently. After less than two weeks on the market, his mid-century modern mansion in Medina, Wash., sold after it had been listed at just under $5 million, according to Re/Max, the real estate company that represented the home. The sales price of the home wasn’t released, and the realtor representing the property didn’t respond to requests for comment from Fortune.
The somewhat modest (by Gates’ standards) lakefront home is just 2,400 square feet with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Gates bought the home, which was built in 1954, in 2003 for about $1.3 million, according to King County property records. Gates representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment from Fortune about why he had decided to sell the property.
This isn’t the only property that Gates owns in the Medina area, which overlooks Lake Washington. He also owns a 66,000-square-foot mansion, nicknamed “Xanadu 2.0,” a riff on Charles Foster Kane’s home in the film Citizen Kane. Gates bought the Xanadu land in 1988 for just $2 million—but proceeded to pour about $63 million into the property—and now the entire estate is worth about $130 million. It has 24 bathrooms, but oddly just seven bedrooms.
Melinda Gates told Fortune in a 2008 interview that the property, which took a whopping seven years to complete, ended up being “a bachelor’s dream and a bride’s nightmare.” It includes several garages, a trampoline room, an indoor pool, a theater with a popcorn machine, and innumerable software and high-tech displays. Melinda even considered not moving in (as the project was underway during the early years of their marriage).
Other properties owned by Bill Gates
While the Medina mansion may seem like enough, Gates owns several other luxury properties across the U.S. It’s nearly impossible to tell exactly how many he may hold because some are listed under limited liability companies, like the $5 million lake house that just sold.
According to a 2021 Realtor.com report, Gates owns properties in Hobe Sound, Fla.; Wellington, Fla.; and Indian Wells, Calif. In 2020, the Gateses also purchased a $43 million property in Del Mar, Calif., which is a 5,800-square-foot residence with ocean views, six bedrooms, and two guesthouses, according to Realtor.com.
While Gates has spent millions of dollars on properties across the country, he and Melinda have given away more than $59 billion through their foundation following his early retirement from Microsoft.
“If you’d have asked me in my twenties if I’d ever retire early from Microsoft, I’d have told you that you were crazy,” he wrote in a 2019 Gates Note. “The world is more equitable now than it was then. But we’ve still got a long way to go.”
Microsoft on Tuesday announced a $2.9 billion investment over the next two years in Japan to bolster the country’s push into artificial intelligence.
The announcement coincides with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington, underscoring Tokyo’s commitment to becoming a major AI power.
Microsoft has grown into a major player…
Microsoft on Tuesday announced a $2.9 billion investment over the next two years in Japan to bolster the country’s push into artificial intelligence.
The announcement coincides with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington, underscoring Tokyo’s commitment to becoming a major AI power.
Microsoft has grown into a major player in the advancement of AI through its partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, propelling it past Apple as the world’s biggest company by market capitalization.
“This is Microsoft’s single largest investment in its 46-year history in Japan,” said Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft. “These investments are essential ingredients for Japan to build a robust AI Economy.”
The investment included providing “more advanced computing resources,” according to Smith, including powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) that are crucial for running AI applications.
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Microsoft also pledged to invest in training three million Japanese workers in AI skills over the next three years, and announced the opening of its first Microsoft Research Asia lab in Tokyo that will work on AI and robotics.
Underling the growing importance of cybersecurity amid increased hacking and breaches, Microsoft also announced plans to collaborate with Japan’s government to strengthen the country’s cyber defenses.
“The threat landscape for cybersecurity has become more challenging … We’re seeing that from China and from Russia in particular, but we’re also seeing growing ransomware activity around the world,” Smith told the Nikkei news outlet.
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Warren Buffett, despite long avoiding the technology sector, has made Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) the largest holding at the conglomerate he heads, Berkshire Hathaway. No, the Oracle of Omaha didn’t pour into the iPhone maker over hype surrounding artificial intelligence (AI). Buffett has owned Apple since 2016, long before the AI narrative was taking shape.
But during the past year, many of Apple’s big tech cohorts, such as Microsoft and Alphabet, have been making notable strides in AI. While the Windows developer and internet search giant made several public announcements about their AI ambitions, Apple remained quiet.
Playing coy is pretty standard for Apple — but this time, it felt a little different. With some skepticism rising that Apple may have missed the boat on AI, recent details over the company’s plans have emerged from a Bloomberg report.
Below I’ll dig into how Apple may be pursuing AI and assess what this could mean for an investment in the stock.
Slow and steady wins the race
Microsoft kicked off the AI race with a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the start-up behind ChatGPT. Since the investment, Microsoft has quickly integrated ChatGPT across its Windows operating system — specifically, in applications related to Microsoft Office and the company’s Azure cloud platform.
Alphabet and Amazon swiftly followed Microsoft’s move, with each company making splashy investments in an OpenAI competitor called Anthropic. This wasn’t entirely surprising given Alphabet and Amazon each compete in cloud computing with Microsoft.
But Apple, which missed out on the cloud revolution, remained suspiciously quiet during the frenzy of AI investments.
Is Apple moving too slowly?
While Apple hasn’t revealed its AI vision publicly, Wall Street analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities has theorized the company could leverage AI capabilities into its App Store. Earlier this month, investors at least got a small preview of how Apple may be making inroads in AI. The company acquired a Canadian start-up called DarwinAI, which develops technology used to identify defects in hardware devices during manufacturing.
Based on Ives’s theory that Apple may rely on AI for future growth in the App Store, it makes sense that the company would bolster its quality assurance capabilities in its line of hardware devices — which have experienced shrinking growth during the past year. Following the acquisition of Darwin AI, a report published by Bloomberg suggested that Apple is in talks with both Alphabet and OpenAI to potentially run their generative AI models on the iPhone.
Keep an eye out for more details
Apple working with either Alphabet or OpenAI was not something I saw coming. The company is perhaps most famous for its relentless commitment to product innovation. For this reason, it has adopted a closed system, developing technology in-house and rarely outsourcing. This is why I remain incredulous over a potential deal with Alphabet or OpenAI.
At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I think this is a make-or-break scenario for Apple. All of the company’s big tech peers have made breakthroughs in AI. This has left Apple in an unenviable game of catch-up — all while growth stalls.
Working with other AI companies could merely be an illusion. What I mean by that is a partnership could be a way for Apple to stay in the conversation while the company figures out its actual strategy.
This is why I see an investment in Apple right now as potentially a generational move. It’s very hard to bet against a company that has such a prolific history when it comes to marrying software to consumer electronics. If Apple is using a strategic relationship with other AI developers as the catalyst for a more meaningful breakthrough down the road, it could be the first chapter of a much-needed comeback story.
However, with shares trading at 26 times forward earnings, Apple stock is more expensive than both Alphabet and the S&P 500. I don’t understand why an investor would pay a premium over the broader market and other established AI players — especially for a company that isn’t growing and doesn’t appear to have a concrete plan.
Given Apple’s long-term success, however, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt — for now. While I’m wary of buying the stock at its current valuation, I’m equally curious to learn more about any potential relationship with rival platforms. A prudent strategy is to keep a keen eye out for any further details surrounding Apple’s AI roadmap and assess the stock’s volatility after any news.
If your conviction rises on any developments out of Apple as it relates to AI, it could be worth scooping up shares and holding for the long term.
Should you invest $1,000 in Apple right now?
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Cloud consultancy Rebura, which specialises in supporting AWS cloud migrations and modernisations across the UK, Nordics and central Europe, has been acquired by global technology distributor Westcon-Comstor.
Founded in 2017, London-based Rebura supports companies of all sizes as they build and optimise their apps and workloads on AWS, increasing productivity, scalability, cost efficiency and security.
A qualified and fully accredited AWS advanced service partner and solution provider, Rebura holds seven competencies with AWS including migration, Microsoft Workloads and DevOps.
Westcon-Comstor, which connects major IT vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike with a global channel of technology resellers, systems integrators and service providers, operates in more than 70 countries and employs more than 3,500 people worldwide. Revenue in FY23 (the year ending 28 February 2023) was a record US $3.42 billion, up 18.3% year on year.
Westcon-Comstor, part of the Datatec group, said the acquisition of Rebura would strengthen its cloud capabilities, enabling its channel partners to provide a range of AWS solutions to their customers including cloud consultancy, migration services, FinOps, AWS Marketplace excellence and security-aligned professional services.
Following the acquisition, Westcon-Comstor will offer Rebura consulting services incrementally. Rebura will be maintained as a separate standalone organisation and form the foundation of Westcon-Comstor’s AWS line of business.
Following a period of sustained organic growth, including double-digit revenue increases for the past two financial years, the deal represents a new pillar in Westcon-Comstor’s growth strategy to focus on targeted, strategic acquisitions.
David Grant, CEO at Westcon-Comstor, said: “Migrating workloads to the cloud and maintaining security resilience are two of the biggest challenges faced by end-user businesses.
“This represents a significant opportunity for the channel, but many of our partners do not have the AWS migration and security skills needed to support their customers on this journey. Thanks to this exciting acquisition, our partners will now be able to access these capabilities through Rebura as part of a seamless and unique proposition.”
Aaron Rees, founder and CEO at Rebura, said: “Over the past seven years we have built Rebura into one of the fastest-growing AWS consulting and service partners, and today marks an exciting new chapter in our history.
“Westcon-Comstor’s global reach and incredibly strong channel connections will give us a much bigger platform from which to grow as we bring our deep expertise across AWS products and services to a wider audience.”
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