Warren Buffett redirects $6 billion in Berkshire shares to his children’s foundations, omitting Gates Foundation
For the first time since 2006, Warren Buffett gave roughly $6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to four charities run by his children, excluding the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from his mid-year philanthropic allocations.
Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, allocated thousands of shares of the company—valued at nearly $6 billion—to four charitable foundations managed by his children in his latest mid-year giving cycle. The move marks the first year since 2006 that the Gates Foundation did not receive a portion of his donations. Buffett, whose net worth is estimated at $147 billion, has pledged to donate more than 99% of his fortune and has historically directed a share of his Berkshire stock to the Gates Foundation as part of the Giving Pledge he co-founded in 2010. > "All of my Berkshire shares will be expended for philanthropic purposes by 10 years after my estate is settled. Nothing will go to endowments; I want the money spent on current needs," Buffett wrote in a 2010 letter. The decision comes amid ongoing scrutiny of the Gates Foundation’s past connections to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, which prompted an external review by the foundation earlier this year.