Buffett donates another $5.3 billion, says his children will run the estate

Warren Buffett made his largest annual donation to date on Friday, at $5.3 billion Berkshire Hathaway shares to five charities.

The legendary investor, who turns 94 in August, has converted 8,674 of his Berkshire Class A shares into more than 13 million Class B shares. a statement on Friday. A total of 9.93 million shares went to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with the remainder going to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his late first wife, and the three charities led by his children Howard, Susan and Peter Buffett.

The “Oracle of Omaha” has vowed to give away the fortune he built at Berkshire, the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate he began leading in 1965. Buffett has been making annual donations to the five charities since 2006.

After Friday’s donations, Buffett owns 207,963 Berkshire A shares and 2,586 B shares, worth about $130 billion.

New charity fund

In an interview with The Wall Street JournalBuffett clarified that the enormous fortune he amassed from building the unique conglomerate will be spent after his death on a new charity overseen by his three children.

“It should be used to help the people who haven’t been as fortunate as we have been,” he told the Journal. “There are eight billion people in the world, and me and my kids are in the luckiest 100th of 1% or something like that. There are lots of ways to help people.”

Buffett has previously said that his three children are the executors of his will, as well as the appointed trustees of the charity that will receive more than 99% of his assets.

He told the Journal that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will no longer receive donations after his death. Buffett resigned as a trustee of the Gates Foundation in June 2021, in the midst of Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce.

At Berkshire’s annual meeting in May, Buffett spoke candidly to shareholders about a future in which he is no longer at the helm. He seemed solemn at times as he reflected on his old age and reflected on his late friend and business partner Charlie Munger.

Greg Abel, vice chairman of non-insurance operations at Berkshire, has been named Buffett’s successor and has taken on the bulk of the responsibility at the conglomerate.

Buffett previously said his will will be made public after his death.

“After my death, the disposition of my assets will be an open book – no ‘imaginative’ trusts or foreign entities to avoid public scrutiny, but rather a simple will available for inspection at the Douglas County Courthouse,” Buffett said in November.