Warren Buffett, who has long invested huge sums of money in philanthropy, said in an interview with the media on Friday that he plans to stop giving to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation after his death and let his three children decide how to distribute the remaining assets of about $128 billion.
With the transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars in assets to the foundation managed by his children, the pattern of global philanthropy will also be rewritten.
The huge wealth will be inherited by the foundation managed by the children The Gates Foundation will not receive Buffett's legacy
In an interview with the media on Friday, the 93-year-old revealed that he currently owns about $130 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock. This vast fortune will be managed by his daughter and two sons after his death for a newly formed foundation focused on philanthropy.
Warren Buffett made it clear:
The Gates Foundation will not receive any donations after my death.
Over the past 20 years, Warren Buffett has donated about $43 billion to the Gates Foundation. On Friday, he also announced a $4 billion donation to the Gates Foundation. Previously, Buffett had promised to donate 5% of Berkshire shares to the Gates Foundation every year until his death. This means that the number of shares donated will decrease every year, but an increase in the share price may mean that the value of the donation will increase. Berkshire Class B shares are now trading at more than six times the price they were at the end of June 2006.
The new foundation will be the largest charity in the world
The Buffett family's new foundation, once established, will immediately become one of the world's largest philanthropies. The Gates Foundation, which is more than $75 billion, and the Ford Foundation, which is worth $16 billion, are expected to rival the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which has $108 billion in assets (as of 2022). This means that the new foundation will have the ability to fund billions of dollars in projects each year, making a significant impact on global philanthropy.
Buffett said he did not prescribe a specific philanthropic direction for his children. In an interview, he said:
The money should be used to help people who are not as lucky as we are. There are 8 billion people in the world, and my children and I are in the luckiest thousandth. There are many ways to help others.
Warren Buffett's three children are already making achievements in the field of philanthropy:
1. Susie Buffett, 71, lives in Omaha, Berkshire's headquarters, and serves as president of the Sherwood Foundation, which promotes early childhood education and social justice. She also serves as chair of the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (named after her mother), which funds reproductive rights and college scholarship programs.
2. 69-year-old Howard Buffett lives in Decatur, Illinois, runs the farm and leads Howard Brown. The G. Buffett Foundation, which works for food security, conflict mitigation, and combating human trafficking.
3. Peter Buffett, 66, is a composer who lives near Kingston, New York, and co-leads the NoVo Foundation with his wife, Jennifer Buffett, whose projects include working with Indigenous communities.
Susie and Howard Buffett also serve on Berkshire-Hathaway's board of directors.
Warren Buffett's relationship with the Gates Foundation
Buffett's relationship with the Gates Foundation dates back to 2006, when he announced that he would make an annual gift to the foundation and four family charities. In 2010, he co-founded the Giving Pledge with Bill and Melinda Gates, inviting billionaires to pledge to donate at least half of their wealth to charity.
Warren Buffett has served as a trustee of the Gates Foundation since 2006. In 2021, after Bill Gates and Melinda Gates divorced, he announced his resignation. Melinda also announced in May that she would resign from the Gates Foundation to devote herself to her philanthropic work.
Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, thanked Buffett for his contributions:
Warren Buffett has been extremely generous in his donations and advice to the Gates Foundation for more than 18 years. He has played an invaluable role in advocating for and shaping the Foundation's work to create a world where everyone can live a healthy, productive life.
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