Warren Buffett Donates 12 Million Berkshire Shares to Four Family Foundations

Warren Buffett will donate 9 million Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 1 million shares each to the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the Novo Foundation. Berkshire Hathaway announced the gifts on behalf of the 95-year-old chairman.

The total of 12 million shares marks the first year the Gates Foundation has been excluded from Buffett's annual donations. Buffett said his goal is to dispose of all of his Berkshire shares within about eight years. He added that he hopes his three children will complete the disposal by December 31, 2034.

Buffett has not spoken with Bill Gates since a review of the foundation's ties to Jeffrey Epstein was unveiled. He said the two had shared great times together but that it does not make sense to do a lot of talking until the matter is cleared up. Since 2006 Buffett has donated more than $47 billion worth of Berkshire stock to the Gates Foundation.

In a 2006 letter to Bill and Melinda Gates he wrote that he was irrevocably committing to make annual gifts throughout his lifetime provided at least one of them remained actively involved. Buffett will discuss the donations in an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box on Wednesday.