Warren Buffett, the most famous investor of all time, has announced plans to completely divest his stake in Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK) via share donations by December 31, 2034.
The 95-year-old billionaire said in a news release published on July 14 that his remaining holdings will be donated over the next eight years to four charitable foundations.
What made the announcement notable is that Buffett excluded the Gates Foundation from his annual midyear donations for the first time in two decades.
Instead, Buffett will donate 1 million Class B Berkshire shares to the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation, each run by one of his three children.
In addition, he is also donating 9 million Class B shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his late wife.
“My goal is to dispose of all of my Berkshire shares within about eight years. I have every hope that the three of them are able to carry out the disposal of my shares by December 31, 2034,” Buffett said.
Warren Buffett excludes the Gates Foundation from his Berkshire Hathaway share donations
Last year, the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ said he intended to accelerate charitable giving so his children could more easily manage and distribute his estate after his death. Accordingly, he donated roughly $320 million in Berkshire shares to each of his children’s foundations before pledging additional gifts of about $200 million to each later in the year.
“The goal is to have the grants grow annually to each of the three foundations managed by each of my children and the annual grant to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation grow at a somewhat greater rate,” he added.
As mentioned, however, Buffett skipped the Gates Foundation in this year’s donations after supporting it for decades. The move apparently follows renewed public scrutiny of Bill Gates’ past association with Jeffrey Epstein.
According to reports by The Wall Street Journal, the Gates Foundation commissioned a review of Gates’s interactions with Epstein and is examining future philanthropic partnership policies, with Buffett reportedly waiting for the outcome.
In a statement, the Gates Foundation also thanked Buffett for his decades of support, saying his contributions have ‘helped expand and deliver on the foundation’s mission to improve health and opportunity for people around the world.’
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