Investor Warren Buffett, 93, declared he would be donating $5.3 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock to five charitable organizations. However, he said that, in a significant departure from his long-standing charitable plan, he would let his three children determine what to do with the remaining $128 billion of his estate after his passing and would stop making gifts to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
After Bill Gates, one of his closest friends, revealed that he and Melinda French Gates were divorcing in 2021, Buffett resigned from the Gates Foundation board, saying, “The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death.” Earlier this year, French Gates departed from the Gates Foundation.
Buffett stated in his 2006 initial commitment letter to the Gates Foundation that he intended to leave the foundation in his will. He was alluding to the yearly contributions of Berkshire Hathaway stock that he was committing when he said, “I will soon write a new will that will provide for a continuance of this commitment — by distribution of the remaining earmarked shares or in some other manner — after my death.”
However, Buffett clarified in a statement on Friday that his initial promises are only valid until he passes away.
An additional $400 million in Berkshire Hathaway shares is being donated on Friday to support the healthcare and education-focused Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which Buffett and his late wife founded.
In a statement, Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, expressed his gratitude for Buffett’s continuous generosity.
“For more than 18 years, Warren Buffett has been incredibly giving to the Gates Foundation with advice and contributions,” Suzman stated. “He has been a key figure in advancing and directing the foundation’s efforts to build a society in which all people may have fulfilling lives. His most recent gift to our work, together with his gifts totaling around $43 billion, are much appreciated.
Additionally, Buffett carried on his family’s custom of donating hundreds of millions to three nonprofits that his three children had started. The Sherwood Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation will each get shares valued at around $285 million.
Buffett is now ranked 10th on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires tracker, down from his previous ranking of eighth richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $129 billion following Friday’s gifts. Approximately 14% of Berkshire Hathaway’s shares are owned by him; during the last 60 years, he has transformed the company into one of the most valuable businesses in the world.
Buffett said to The Wall Street Journal that the vast wealth he accumulated from creating the unique company would be transferred to a new charity trust that will be managed by his three children upon his passing.
“It should be used to help the people that haven’t been as lucky as we have been,” he stated to the Journal. “There are eight billion people on the planet, and my family and I consider ourselves to be among the luckiest 100th of 1% or so. There are several methods to assist others.
Reference
Josh Funk, June 29, 2024. Buffett donates to the Gates Foundation but will cut it off after his death. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/buffett-donates-to-the-gates-foundation-but-will-cut-it-off-after-his-death/