Warren Buffett shed light on the future governance of his vast fortune shortly before Thanksgiving and donated $866 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock to four family-run philanthropies.
In a letter published on the Berkshire website, the 93-year-old billionaire, noting his age, said, “I feel good but fully realize I am playing in extra innings.”
He disclosed that his three children—Howard, Susan, and Peter Buffett—serve as executors of his current will and trustees of a charitable trust poised to receive over 99 percent of his wealth.
Since 2006, Mr. Buffett has consistently donated to the same four family foundations every year. Last year, he gave approximately $750 million worth of his company’s shares to these foundations.
In 2006, Mr. Buffett wrote to the foundations run by his three children and Bill and Melinda Gates announcing his plan to make annual “lifetime” gifts of Berkshire Hathaway B shares as gifts.
This week, Mr. Buffett acknowledged that back in 2006 his children “were not fully prepared for this awesome responsibility.” However, he added, “they are now” well-equipped for the task.
In his message to shareholders, Mr. Buffett said that his three children share his belief that private philanthropy will always have a crucial role in America.
They also share their father’s view 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,” he added.
Mr. Buffett expressed his satisfaction with his decision to repeat the donations, noting that it aligned with his belief in avoiding dynastic wealth, which he and his children view as undesirable.
Over $800 Million Donation
Continuing his annual philanthropic tradition, Mr. Buffet on Tuesday donated over $800 million in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock to four foundations run by his three children.This week, Mr. Buffett granted 1.5 million Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. This charity, named after his late first wife, has contributed billions to “reproductive health” and abortion-related causes.
Additionally, 300,000 shares each went to the Sherwood Foundation, which supports nonprofits in Nebraska; the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which focuses on conflict mitigation and food-related causes; and the NoVo Foundation, which focuses on left-leaning causes such as abortion and LGBT issues.
The donations were delivered on Nov. 21, according to a press release published on Berkshire Hathaway’s website. Mr. Buffett has run the Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. since 1965 and has amassed a fortune in that time.
These donations, which repeat those made at Thanksgiving last year, “supplement certain of the lifetime pledges I made in 2006 and that continue until my death,” Mr. Buffett said.
The number of shares Mr. Buffett donates falls by 5 percent each year, a rule he outlined in letters to the Gates’s and his children’s foundations in 2006.
Mr. Buffett has consistently donated to the same four charities annually since 2006. Last year, he gave approximately $750 million worth of his company’s shares to these family foundations.
Buffett’s Views on Capitalism
The statement also provided insights into the Buffett family’s views on capitalism in America.Mr. Buffett said that although his children’s foundations follow “different paths” in their philanthropic endeavors, as a family, they share a similar conviction about the role capitalism plays in the United States.
“We also agree that capitalism—whatever its weaknesses, including the vast disparities in wealth and political influence that it delivers somewhat capriciously to its citizens—has worked wonders and continues to work wonders,” Mr. Buffett said.
“The United States is exhibit A for that belief, and the four of us feel lucky that we beat very long odds when we were born in the U.S.”
In describing the success of his conglomerate, which he founded in 1964, Mr. Buffett said earlier this year that “nothing extraordinary” had occurred at Berkshire Hathway. “A very long runway, simple and generally sound decisions, the American tailwind, and compounding effects produced my current wealth,” he said in a statement.
“American tailwind” was coined by Mr. Buffett in 2019 to describe the United States’ ability to build wealth over the long term, even through times of war and financial crisis.
Mr. Buffett built Berkshire Hathaway into an approximately $740 billion company through businesses such as BNSF railroad and Geico car insurance, and stock holdings in companies such as Apple Inc.
Beyond his yearly contributions, in June, he contributed $4.64 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to five charities. In total, Mr. Buffett’s charitable donations since 2006 now surpass $51 billion.
