Warren Buffet is a strong proponent of many things: MacMavenAnd Diet colaand charity work. Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO donated $4.6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock (which consists of approximately 13.7 million “B” shares) to five charities in his annual donation on Wednesday. While the number of shares Buffett hands out decreases by 5% each year, it is his The largest by value to date Thanks to the high price of the company’s shares.
“Nothing extraordinary has happened in Berkshire; a very long runway, simple and generally sound, American tailwinds and compound influences have produced my present fortune,” Buffett explained in a press release.
At this point, the investor continued, he awarded $50 billion in shares based on their value at the time they were received — worth $132 billion at today’s share price. Buffett’s majority $118 billion Wealth is tied to stock; The value of his remaining shares is about $112 billion. like Business Insider notes, If Buffett kept all the shares he gave away, his net worth would exceed $250 billion. This would make him the richest man in the world, above Elon Musk, rather than his current status as the sixth richest man in the world.
After he gave away 54% of Berkshire Hathaway’s shares, the “Oracle of Omaha” is on his way to disposing of the majority of his fortune. “My will states that over 99% of my estate is for charitable use,” he wrote in the press release. In 2006, Buffett made a commitment to give up 85% Some of his shares in the company were donated to charities, most of which were allocated to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Four years later, he pledged to redistribute 99% of his wealth to charity during or after his lifetime when Sign the bid pledge with friend and fellow billionaire Bill Gates, calling on fellow billionaires to give away a significant portion of their wealth to charity.
The Gates Foundation has continued to be the primary recipient of Buffett’s donations, along with the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the Novo Foundation, whose collective goals range from Social Justice Initiatives in Nebraska to Empowering women and girls.
Buffett has always been vocal about his willingness to part with his billions, Says luckCarol Loomis Back in 2006 he never planned to leave his entire fortune to his children. He said, “A very rich person should leave his children enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing.”
He often bemoans generational wealth as one of the main drivers of rising income inequality in the U.S. “Dynasty wealth, the enemy of meritocracy, is increasing.” he said in 2007. “Parity of opportunity is deteriorating. A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of democracy toward the wealthy.”
Buffett, 92, reportedly wants to spend his billions within 10 years of his death, according to a… Wall Street Journal investigation since last year. While most of it will go to the five charities the Gates Foundation is, there are still unencumbered shares left up in the air. He has yet to reveal the nitty-gritty of how this wealth will be divided after his death; estate planning experts said magazine His pledge speech was a bit vague.
Gates Doundation employees were counting on receiving both pledged and uncommitted shares, one employee said the magazine. One alleged proposal, they said, is to create a global children’s savings bank, in which children would receive thousands of dollars that “sit on the shelf, like a battle plan” for child beneficiaries.
For now, though, Buffett still gets a daily McMuffin and shies away from donating his amassed fortune to charity.