Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has shown his philanthropic spirit once again by donating more than $870 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock to four family foundations before Thanksgiving. This act of generosity reassured investors in a letter that the conglomerate is “built to last.”
The 93-year-old investor donated 1.5 million Class B shares of his conglomerate to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which is named after his first wife. He also gave 300,000 Class B shares to each of the three foundations run by his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation.
Buffett stated, “They supplement certain of the lifetime pledges I made in 2006 and that continue until my death (at 93, I feel good but fully realize I am playing in extra innings).”
This isn’t the first time Buffett has made such generous contributions. Last year on Thanksgiving eve, he made similar donations to the same four charities. Buffett has been making annual donations to these charities since 2006, as part of his pledge to give away his fortune, which he built at Berkshire, the Omaha-based conglomerate he has been running since 1965.
Berkshire Hathaway owns a wide variety of well-established businesses, from Geico insurance to BNSF Railway to about 6% of Apple. Shares of the conglomerate have gained nearly 17% this year after reaching an all-time high in September.
In his letter, Buffett affirmed to Berkshire shareholders that the empire he has built over the past six decades will stand the test of time, even without his oversight.
Greg Abel, the vice chairman for non-insurance operations at Berkshire, has been named Buffett’s successor. Buffett has spoken highly of Abel, noting that he has taken on most of the responsibilities.
Buffett’s three children are the executors of his will and the named trustees of the charitable trust that will receive nearly all of Buffett’s wealth.
Buffett stated, “My children, along with their father, have a common belief that dynastic wealth, though both legal and common in much of the world including the United States, is not desirable. Moreover, we have had many opportunities to observe that being rich does not make you either wise or evil.”
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