Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor behind storied conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, announced a new $4.1 billion donation to charity Wednesday morning while simultaneously announcing that he’s stepping down as an inactive trustee at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
KEY FACTS
In a Wednesday morning statement, Buffett said he is giving away $4.1 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to the five foundations he’s given to every year since 2006: the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Novo Foundation and the Gates Foundation.
The 90-year-old also announced he would resign as an “inactive” trustee at the Gates Foundation, saying his “physical participation is in no way needed to achieve” the foundation’s goals.
The legendary investor did not mention Bill and Melinda Gates’ high-profile divorce and instead said the move follows his decision to resign from all corporate boards besides that of Berkshire, where he remains chairman and CEO.
Buffett says he now owns 238,624 shares of Berkshire Hathaway—worth about $100 billion—putting him about halfway through his pledge to donate all of the 474,998 shares he owned in June 2006.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Today is a milestone for me,” Buffett said Wednesday. “In 2006, I pledged to distribute all of my Berkshire Hathaway shares—more than 99% of my net worth—to philanthropy. With today’s $4.1 billion distribution, I’m halfway there.”
BIG NUMBER
$41 billion. That’s the total value of Buffett’s Berkshire stock donations at the time of giving. Before Wednesday’s donation, which has yet to be reflected on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website, Forbes pegged the value of Buffett’s fortune at about $105 billion.
TANGENT
Buffett’s not alone in big billionaire donations this month. Last week, MacKenzie Scott, the philanthropist and former spouse of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, announced a new round of donations totaling roughly $2.7 billion.