Bill Gates is CN railway’s largest shareholder

Bill Gates owns the largest slice of Canadian National Railway Co., according to a document released by the company ahead of its Wednesday annual meeting in Toronto. With $3.2 billion in shares, the Microsoft Corp. founder controls roughly 10 per cent of the Montreal-based railway, whose market valuation on Thursday was at $32-billion, or $69.88 a share. Gates holds 37.4 million CN shares through Cascade Investment LLC, and another 8.6 million as co-trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. Gates first emerged as a CN investor in 2006, when filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed he owned a 6.6 per cent stake in the company. The decision to stock up on CN shares, analysts speculated, may be the result of advice from Gates’ longtime friend Warren Buffett, who acquired full control of U.S. rail company Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. early last year.

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