Warren Buffett Donates $4.64 Billion Berkshire Stock

Warren Buffett, Chairperson of Berkshire Hathaway has donated another $4.64 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock to five charities, taking up the total charities given so far since 2006 to more than $51 billion, states a report from Reuters.

On Wednesday, the renowned philanthropist made an annual donation which consisted of around 13.7 million Class B shares of Berkshire.

The 92-year-old is an active donor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The charity foundation started by the former Gates couple has so far received more than $39 billion worth of Berkshire stock in all.

Apart from this, the American business magnate will also be donating 1.05 million shares towards Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation, named after his late first wife and 2.2 million shares split evenly among charities led by his children Susan, Howard and Peter: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.

Buffett and Bill Gates pioneered the Giving Pledge, through with over 240 people like Larry Ellison, Michael Bloomberg, Elon Musk, Carl Icahn and Mark Zuckerberg committed at least half of their wealth to philanthropy.

The philanthropist has already donated over half of his stock held in Berkshire. Yet he still owns more than $112.5 billion or around 15 per cent of Berkshire shares post Wednesday's donations.

In a statement issued by Buffett, "Nothing extraordinary has occurred at Berkshire: a very long runway, simple and generally sound decisions, the American tailwind and compounding effects produced my current wealth".

Who is Warren Buffett?

Born as Warren Edward Buffett, is an American Business Magnet, an investor and philanthropist. He is the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. As of June 2023, he possesses a net worth of $117 billion. Being the fifth-richest person in the world, Buffett is well known for being one of the best-known fundamental investors in the world owing to his immense investment success.

How does Warren Buffett make money?

Warren Buffett has managed to amass his fortune by purchasing undervalued stocks and companies after doing a thorough highly research and timely purchase of the same. He usually holds them for a long time. For most of the companies which he has bought, he has allowed the existing management to remain in place, as they had done a good job enough to make the company attractive for Buffett to buy them in the first place.

In the case of stocks, he has been in it for a long haul, he holds stakes in prominent companies like American Express and Coke for decades. He still owns both. He also has stakes in Citigroup, HP, Bank of America, Markel, Apple, Diageo and the list goes on.

Buffett's Philanthropy Work with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Buffett had long stated his intention to give away his wealth to charity. In June 2006, he announced his plans to give 83 per cent of his wealth towards the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). He has pledged Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway 10 million to the BMGF worth around $30.7 billion as of June 23, 2006. With this, he has made the largest charitable donation in history. The foundation is set to receive 5 per cent of the total each July, starting from 2006.

The pledge is conditional upon the fulfilment of three requirements:

1. Bill or Melinda Gates must be alive and active in BMGF.
2. BMGF must continue to qualify as a charity.
3. Every year BMGF must give away an amount equal to the previous year's Berkshire gift plus the additional 5 per cent of the net assets as required of all the U.S. foundations.

Buffett had joined the Board of the Gates Foundation, yet he did not plan to be actively involved in the foundation's investments. In June 2021, he announced his resignation as a trustee of the Gates Foundation.