In a deal between Seattle-area tech tycoons, Bill Gates' personal investment company, Cascade Investment, bought 3.8 million shares of wireless company Nextel Partners last week from cellular-phone entrepreneur Craig McCaw. The Microsoft chairman raised his stake in Nextel Partners, an affiliate of Nextel Communications, to 12.7 million shares, or 5.2% of the Kirkland, Wash., company. McCaw remains majority shareholder with 15.8 million shares, or 6.4%. Says telecom analyst Jeff Kagan: "Gates understands the future of the wireless business isn't just voice, but wireless data and wireless broadband."
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