gates
No sympathy for US Dollar. Gates at the exclusive Switzerland Davos retreat says he has “shorted” the currency of his country.

Bill Gates bets against dollar — What is the point of making these proclamations? I wouldn’t really care about this except that Microsoft is one of the top offshoring companies in the country and contributing to the dollar’s demise. It’s incredible to me that he’d stick a knife into the heart of America with these public comments. Does he thinks this helps things here in the USA? Apparently he doesn’t give a crap. After all, we know little about the rest of his portfolio. Why is he making this “investment” to help sink the dollar and perhaps the US economy public knowledge?

Bill Gates, whose net worth of $46.6 billion makes him the world’s richest person, is betting against the US dollar.

“I’m short the dollar,” Gates, chairman of Microsoft, said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The ol’ dollar, it’s gonna go down.”

The “ol’ dollar?” Except for Bloomberg nobody is touching this story in the US market. Advertising doillars are at risk, aren’t they?

Bloomberg coverage

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) — Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the world’s two richest men, are partners in business, bridge and travel. Now they’ve joined in a bet against the U.S. dollar.

Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., said he expects the dollar to extend its three-year drop because of widening U.S. trade and budget deficits.

“I’m short the dollar,” Gates told television interviewer Charlie Rose this weekend at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The ol’ dollar, it’s gonna go down.”

Buffett, whose personal fortune of more than $42.9 billion is topped only by Gates’s $46.6 billion, has been buying foreign currencies since 2002, citing the impact of the U.S. deficits. Their concerns were echoed in Davos by policymakers including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and investors such as George Soros.

Coverage in India

Australian coverage

Mr Gates reflected the views of his friend Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has bet against the dollar since 2002. Mr Buffett said last week that the US trade gap would probably further weaken the currency.

Mr Gates in December joined the board of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company that Mr Buffett runs. Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires ranks Mr Gates, 49, No. 1. Mr Buffett, 74, is second, with more than $US30 billion. Almost all of it is in Berkshire stock.

Mr Gates described China as a potential “change agent” for the next two decades. “It’s phenomenal,” he said. “It’s a brand new form of capitalism.”