$ cat ./records/expedia-is-born-inside-microsoft-1996.txt
Expedia Is Born Inside Microsoft
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The online-travel giant Expedia began life inside Microsoft. Launched in 1996 after Richard Barton pitched the idea to Bill Gates — who approved it on the spot — Microsoft Expedia let people book flights and hotels over the web, an early bet on internet commerce. Microsoft spun Expedia off as a public company in 1999 and sold its stake to USA Networks for about $1.5 billion in 2001. Expedia grew into one of the world's largest travel companies, an enduring product of Gates-era Microsoft's internet push.
Source: https://news.microsoft.com/source/1996/10/22/microsoft-expedia-travel-services-debuts-on-the-web/
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2026
Gates Foundation Trust Sells Off the Last of Its Microsoft Stock
In the first quarter of 2026, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust sold its remaining Microsoft shares, fully exiting a position in the very company that created Gates's fortune — capping a long, deliberate diversification away from the stock. The endowment that funds Gates's philanthropy, managed separately from its grant-making through Cascade, is now anchored instead by Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, railroads, and heavy-equipment makers. The sale underscored how thoroughly Gates's giving had decoupled from Microsoft's day-to-day fortunes.
2026
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