This remarkable story is just in.
Warren Buffet has long said that after his death most of his fortune would be given to charity.
Now he has decided to start giving away immediately. With about 5% per year going to five foundations, with the largest share going to the foundation of his friends Bill and Melinda Gates.
The Gates foundation has received accolades as the best led and managed of the non-profits. It has a focus on the 4 billion poorest citizens of the world, and especially has addressed child health, healing childhood diseases, and developing treatments, cures and vaccines for childhood diseases that are prevalent in the poorest parts of the world.
to address the world’s most challenging inequities, and we are humbled
that he has chosen to direct a large portion of it to the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation,” Bill and Melinda Gates said.
The Gates Foundation is the largest in the world, with assets just over $29.1 billion.
Buffet plans to give a total of 10 million class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Gates Foundation. The shares sold for $3,071 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Thus the gift to the Gates Foundation is worth $30 billion in today’s purchasing power. With about 5% transferred per year, the value of this gift could increase if Berkshire Hathaway continues to be a successful fund.
