Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, smiles while playing bridge following the Berkshire Hathaway annual stockholders meeting May 5, 2019 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Nati Harnik | AP
Warren Buffett has made another annual donation to five foundations, taking his total charitable giving to over $50 billion — significantly more than his total net worth in 2006, when he first scheduled the grants.
The 92-year-old legendary investor said Thursday he converted over 9,000 Berkshire Class A shares in B Shares to donate 13.7 million B shares to five foundations. A total of 10.5 million shares were delivered to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and 1.05 million shares were donated to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his first wife, who died in 2004.
Another 2.2 million shares were split evenly among his children’s three foundations: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation. At 1:30 p.m. ET, B shares were worth about $336 apiece.
The “Oracle of Omaha” said the annual grants schedule was created on June 26, 2006, when he owned $43 billion in Berkshire A shares, which accounted for more than 98% of his net worth. Buffett pledged in a 2006 letter to donate Berkshire B shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation annually during his lifetime.
“In the following 17 years I have not bought or sold A or B shares and have no intention of doing so. The five foundations received Berkshire B shares, which were valued at approximately $50 billion upon receipt, significantly more than my total net worth in 2006,” Buffett said. “I have no debt and my remaining A shares are worth about $112 billion, well over 99% of my net worth.”
Last year, on Thanksgiving Eve, Buffett donated more than $750 million to his family’s four charities as “ultimate support” for his children.
Buffett plans to give away all of his Berkshire stock through annual gifts that will complete ten years after his estate is wound up. After this year’s donation, Buffett now owns 218,287 A shares and 344 B shares.
“Nothing out of the ordinary has happened in Berkshire; a very long road, simple and generally sane decisions, American tailwinds, and compounding effects have led to my current wealth,” Buffett said. “My will provides that more than 99% of my estate goes to charity.”
A sprawling empire with businesses ranging from insurance to railroads and utilities to energy and retail, the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate is now worth more than $730 billion.