Warren Buffett To Make $1.14 Billion Donation Of Berkshire Shares To Four Family Foundations

As is usually the case, Warren Buffett is making a shrewd financial move and getting praised as a philanthropist for it.

This time he’s not lending a vote of confidence to a struggling U.S. bank by dealing himself preferred stock, he’s making a $1.14 billion donation of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares to four family foundations, according to Bloomberg.

The investing legend plans to convert 1,600 Berkshire Class A shares into 2.4 million Class B shares, gifting 1.5 million to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 300,000 each to his children’s foundations: Sherwood, Howard G. Buffett, and NoVo.

Buffett’s Berkshire Class A shares have dropped to 206,363, a nearly 57% decline since his 2006 pledge. In 2010, Buffett, along with Bill and Melinda Gates, launched the Giving Pledge, committing to donate his fortune during his lifetime or after.

Since 2006, he has made significant donations to the Gates Foundation and his children’s foundations.

In June, Buffett stated the Gates Foundation would no longer receive funds after his death, with his children managing a new charitable trust. He also pledged 13 million Berkshire Class B shares to family foundations and the Gates Foundation.

Buffett said in a letter to shareholders: “Susie and I had long encouraged our children in small philanthropic activities and had been pleased with their enthusiasm, diligence and results.”

“At her death, however, they were not ready to handle the staggering wealth that Berkshire shares had generated. Nevertheless, their philanthropic activities were dramatically increased by the 2006 lifetime pledge that I subsequently made and later expanded,” he continued. 

Bloomberg writes that with a net worth of $150.2 billion, Buffett ranks as the world’s seventh-richest person.