Bill Gates Buys 5.5% Stake in AutoNation

Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft Corp., boosted his holdings in AutoNation Inc., the largest publicly traded U.S. car dealer, to 9.9 million shares through his investment fund and charitable trust. AutoNation jumped 86 percent in trading after the New York Stock Exchange closed. Cascade Investment LLC holds 5.26 million shares, or 2.9 percent, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust has 4.64 million, or 2.6 percent, Gates said in a U.S. regulatory filing today. The 5.5 percent total makes him AutoNation's third- largest stockholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.