This year’s donation marked the halfway point for Buffett, who pledged in 2006 to give away all of his Berkshire shares through annual gifts to five foundations.
Warren Buffet said Wednesday he will donate $4.1 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway shares to five foundations and will resign as the trustee at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
This year’s donation marked the halfway point for the 90-year-old, who in 2006 pledged to give away all of his Berkshire shares through annual gifts to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation. Buffet said he currently owns 238,624 shares, worth about $100 billion.
“Today is a milestone for me,” Buffett said in a statement. “In 2006, I pledged to distribute all of my Berkshire Hathaway shares—more than 99% of my net worth—to philanthropy. With today’s $4.1 billion distribution, I’m halfway there.”
Buffett’s resignation as Gates Foundation trustee comes as the charitable organization faces a difficult time with the divorce of its two founders.
