Gates Earns 10X on BioNTech in Just Two Years: $55m Investment Now Over $550m
As it turns out, the vaccine business has been incredibly lucrative for Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation lately. From one point of view, it’s truly a compelling position to be in, seeking to profit off the business of saving lives. In our system, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this; in fact, it’s celebrated. And the Gates Foundation should be celebrating as apparently, they have turned the $55 million vaccine investment in BioNTech into $550 million in just a couple of years! That is, they injected $55 million in exchange for pre-IPO equity in the German biotech company, which based on the market capitalization present day is worth north of $550 million. This represents, frankly, a staggering return in the world of drug development that often takes a decade for a return on investment. Of course, the coronavirus vaccines have received enormous government subsidies, albeit the BioNTech and Pfizer partnership, to their credit, took a pass on the Operation Warp Speed clinical development cash injection..
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