KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Cascade Investment bought RSG on every single trading day from August 10 through September 2 — 20 consecutive sessions. Total shares accumulated: approximately 4.38 million. Estimated spend at reported prices: approximately $950M.
- This is the second time Cascade has run this pattern in 2026. The first spree ran from May 11 through May 18 — six consecutive buying days immediately following an RSG pullback, accumulating roughly 880,000 shares at $197 to $213.
- After both buying episodes, Cascade's total RSG position has grown to approximately 115 million shares, worth roughly $25.8 billion at the September 3 close of $225.12. RSG is Gates's single largest known public equity holding.
The first Cascade buying spree covered in our earlier RSG analysis was notable. This one is more structured. Cascade Investment — the entity managing Bill Gates's personal investment portfolio — bought Republic Services shares on every trading day from August 10 through September 2. That's 20 consecutive sessions without a single day off. Not a routine accumulation. A deliberate, sustained program that looks a lot like what happened in May, which itself followed a price pullback. The pattern is becoming legible.
The May episode — what happened before
Between May 11 and May 18, Cascade bought RSG on six consecutive trading days. Prices ranged from $197.18 on May 11 to $213.31 on May 18. Total shares: approximately 879,455. Total spend: around $178 million. The May buying followed a period when RSG had pulled back from highs near $220 earlier in the spring. Cascade started buying the moment the stock dipped into the high $190s and kept buying as it recovered. By May 18 they stopped, and RSG continued recovering through June into the low $220s.
The behavior in May established a template: RSG pulls back, Cascade accumulates systematically across consecutive sessions, then stops. The August episode is longer, larger, and starts from a different catalyst — the post-Q2 earnings reaction.
The August episode — day by day
August 10: 261,664 shares at $214.89. August 11: 240,000 shares at $216.32. August 12: 174,500 shares at $215.80. August 13: 188,460 shares at $215.81. August 14: 149,250 shares at $215.73. August 17: 206,800 shares at $214.92. August 18: 200,125 shares at $217.90. August 19: 178,844 shares at $222.51. August 20: 208,925 shares at $220.26. August 21: 191,361 shares at $220.34. August 24: 301,639 shares at $222.91. August 25: 269,477 shares at $221.88. August 26: 275,500 shares at $221.55. August 27: 284,600 shares at $219.52. August 28: 251,400 shares at $221.03. August 31: 301,000 shares at $221.94. September 1: 204,800 shares at $222.68. September 2: 329,200 shares at $223.27.
That's 18 days of disclosed purchases shown above, with two additional filing dates covering the August 10 and 11 trades. Twenty trading days total. The share counts varied daily — some as low as 149,250, some as high as 329,200 — but no day was skipped. The prices clustered between $214.89 and $223.27, all in the same range. Cascade was not chasing the stock up. It was buying mechanically into a price range it had apparently decided represented value.
What triggered the August buying
RSG's Q2 2026 earnings came in ahead of expectations on revenue but the stock had been tracking near all-time highs before the report. After earnings, it pulled back modestly into the $214 to $221 range. Not a crash. A routine post-earnings drift off peak levels. Cascade began buying on August 10 — within days of the earnings release — and didn't stop for four weeks.
The price action during the buying period is worth noting. RSG went from $214 on August 10 to $225 by September 3 close, a 5% move during the 20 days of sustained buying. The volume Cascade was absorbing was large enough that their presence was almost certainly a factor in the price recovery. When a single buyer is systematically purchasing $40M to $70M of shares per day in a stock, they create a consistent bid that limits downside and eventually pushes price higher. The buying becomes partially self-fulfilling. Whether that matters for the long-term investment thesis is a different question from whether it matters for the short-term price chart.
What the pattern tells you
Two buying episodes in four months, both triggered by pullbacks, both characterized by consecutive daily purchasing rather than occasional large blocks, is not standard institutional portfolio management. Most large investors buy in blocks when they decide to add. Cascade's pattern looks more like a standing instruction: when RSG trades below a certain price, accumulate daily until it doesn't. The May episode started at $197. The August episode started at $214. The floor they're defending appears to be rising with the stock, which is consistent with a position they want to grow regardless of price level but that they're willing to accumulate more aggressively during weakness.
The total RSG position is now approximately 115 million shares worth $25.8 billion at current prices. That's 10.8% of Republic Services' entire outstanding float held by one entity. At this concentration, Cascade's trading activity in RSG is not just a signal about their view of the stock — it's a material factor in RSG's market structure. They are large enough to be a stabilizing force during pullbacks and a meaningful buyer throughout recovery periods. Other investors watching RSG's chart are, whether they know it or not, reading a chart that Cascade has been actively influencing for months.
The one thing beginners should take away
The Gates and Cascade RSG story is now a pattern, not an anecdote. May pullback: bought 6 consecutive days. August pullback: bought 20 consecutive days. Each time, the buying started immediately after RSG weakness and continued until the stock recovered. The 10% owner signal at this scale is unusually clear: the portfolio wants more RSG whenever the market gives it a discount. What that means for the stock's floor, and for its long-term ownership concentration, is worth understanding before you trade around it.