Warren Buffett Gives $6 Billion Berkshire Stock to Family Foundations, Omits Gates Foundation

Warren Buffett will donate about $6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four family foundations overseen by his daughter Susie and sons Howard and Peter. The 95-year-old Berkshire chairman omitted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from his annual mid-year gift. Buffett is giving nine million Class B shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.

He is giving one million shares each to the Howard G Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation and the NoVo Foundation. Buffett owned close to 14 percent of Berkshire's stock before the latest transfers and was worth $147 billion according to Forbes. The Gates Foundation has received more than $47 billion of Berkshire stock since Buffett's 2006 pledge.

Last year's donation exceeded $4.5 billion. Buffett has donated well over half his Berkshire holdings since he began giving away his fortune in 2006. "Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034," Buffett said in a statement.

In 2024 he said donations to the Gates Foundation would end with his death. He served as a trustee at the foundation until 2021. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation funds reproductive health. The Sherwood Foundation supports Nebraska nonprofits and early childhood education.

The Howard G Buffett Foundation focuses on global hunger, human trafficking and conflict mitigation. The NoVo Foundation supports marginalized girls and women and indigenous communities.