Buffett donates $1.25 bn Berkshire shares to Gates Foundation

Legendary investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett has donated Berkshire Hathaway shares worth $1.25 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.

Berkshire Hathaway, a diversified financial insurance firm, is the flagship company of Buffett.

The company said in regulatory filling that Buffett donated 428,688 class B shares of Berkshire to the Trust worth $1.25 billion.

"On July 1, 2009, the Trust (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust) received 428,688 Class B Shares as a gift from Warren E Buffett. The closing price per share of the Class B Shares on July 1, 2009 was $2,924," Berkshire Hathway said in the regulatory filing.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust beneficially owns 1,679,138 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares. The Class B Stock is a special category of share usually retained by company founders at the time a company goes public and carries certain rights not granted to the stock available to the public.

Besides, Buffett's donation of shares of  $1.25 billion this year is about 30 per cent less than last year's contribution of $1.8 billion.

Buffett has been named as the second richest person in the world after Bill Gates with a net worth of about $37 billion by the Forbes Magazine.

Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries engage in diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, finance, manufacturing, retailing and services.