Warren Buffett to donate $6 billion in Berkshire shares to charities

By Alexandre Rajbhandari

 

Warren Buffett will donate about $6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares to five foundations as part of a pledge he made nearly two decades ago. 

About 9.43 million Class B shares will be given to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, according to a statement on Saturday. Another 2.92 million shares will be donated to his children’s foundations — Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation — as well as the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after the billionaire’s late wife. 

The 94-year-old started the Giving Pledge in 2010 alongside friends Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates with the goal of donating Buffett’s fortune either in his lifetime or at his death. Four years earlier, he had started making massive donations to the Gates’s foundation, as well as foundations tied to his children. 

“The mathematics of the lifetime commitments to the five foundations are interesting,” Buffett said. “The five foundations have received Berkshire B shares that had a value when received of about $60 billion, substantially more than my entire net worth in 2006.” 

Buffett earlier this year announced he would step down as chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway by the end of 2025, leaving the role to his long-time second-in-command Greg Abel. Buffett said he would not sell a single share of Berkshire Hathaway, but would give them away gradually. 

Buffett’s stake in Berkshire now consists of 198,117 Class A shares and 1,144 Class B shares. 

“I have no debts and my remaining A shares are worth about $145 billion, well over 99 per cent of my net worth,” Buffett said. “My will provides that about 99.5 per cent of my estate is destined for philanthropic usage.”