Bill Gates Trades Microsoft Stock for Garbage 13.81K Ryan Tate 02/09/11 03:19PM Filed to: the rich the rich Bill Gates Microsoft Solid Waste Valleywag Tweetv Tweetg Bill Gates sold a fifth of his Microsoft holdings in the past two years, including 90 million shares in the last 12 months alone. The software company's co-founder did pick an alternative investment: a solid waste company in Las Vegas.