Bill Gates did not purchase Anheuser-Busch, though periodic viral social media rumors or misconstrued stock purchases by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust often spark online speculation. While the foundation routinely holds minor, diversified portfolio shares in hundreds of publicly traded global corporations—including occasional modest stakes in consumer goods or beverage companies—control of Anheuser-Busch remains entirely under its multinational parent corporation, AB InBev, and its institutional public shareholders.