Warren Buffett is giving huge gifts to his family foundation and the foundations of his three children, something the famous financier has done every Thanksgiving for the past three years. On Monday, Buffett announced he is donating stock valued at nearly $1.2 billion to the grant makers.
The billionaire investor said in a news release that he gave 1.5 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his first wife, and 300,000 shares apiece to the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation, his children’s grant makers. Those transfers of stock mean the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation received nearly $716.2 million, while his children’s foundations got $143.2 million each.
Buffett also announced additional plans for his estate. Last year, he named his children— Susan, Howard, and Peter — as executors of his will and the trustees of the charitable trust to which he plans to give the bulk of his fortune when he dies. On Monday, he announced that he has chosen three successor trustees to step in should any of his children die. He did not disclose the successor trustees but said they are well known to his family.
“Father time always wins. But he can be fickle — indeed unfair and even cruel — sometimes ending life at birth or soon thereafter while, at other times, waiting a century or so before paying a visit,” said Buffett in the news release. “To date, I’ve been very lucky, but before long, he will get around to me. There is, however, a downside to my good fortune in avoiding his notice. The expected life span of my children has materially diminished since the 2006 pledge. They are now 71, 69, and 66.”
The 94-year-old has ramped up his giving in recent years. Last November, he gave stock valued at nearly $866 million to the four foundations, and in 2022 he gave them $759 million. Those gifts are in addition to annual payments he makes to the four foundations and to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fulfill the historic multibillion dollar pledges he made in 2006.
Buffett became the biggest U.S. donor in history that year when he pledged 10 million shares of his Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock, then valued at about $36.1 billion, to the Gates Foundation. In 2006, he also donated 1 million Berkshire Hathaway shares, then valued at $3.6 billion, to the foundation named for his first wife, who died in 2004, and 350,000 shares, then valued at about $1.3 billion apiece, to the foundations created by his three children.
Combined, those five pledges amounted to more than $43.5 billion at the time. In 2010, Buffett and Berkshire’s other shareholders approved a stock split, which has since significantly increased the number of shares Buffett has given the five foundations.
$57.7 Billion and Counting
With Monday’s donations, the “Oracle of Omaha” has given over the past 18 years a total of nearly $57.7 billion to the five foundations, including more than $5.8 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.
Buffett established the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation in 1964 to manage the family’s charitable giving. It is run by his former son-in-law, and two of his children serve on its board. The foundation supports women’s reproductive health, provides college scholarships for students in Nebraska, and backs the ACLU and other nonprofits.
At the moment, Buffett’s net worth stands at about $151 billion, according to Forbes. He has said his charitable trust will spend down the money in the decade or so after his death.
His latest announcement places the three successor trustees on a kind of “wait-list,” though he hopes his three children live long enough to give away all of his assets because he has been impressed with their philanthropy.
“The 2006-2024 period gave me the chance to observe each of my children in action, and they have learned much about large-scale philanthropy and human behavior. Each has overseen teams of 20 to 30 for many years and has observed the unique employment dynamics affecting philanthropic organizations,” said Buffett. “Susie Jr., Howie, and Peter have each spent far more time directly helping others than I have. They enjoy being comfortable financially, but they are not preoccupied with wealth. Their mother, from whom they learned these values, would be very proud of them.”
He has given nearly $3 billion apiece to the Sherwood, Howard G. Buffett, and NoVo foundations. The Sherwood Foundation is his daughter Susan Buffett’s grant maker. Through it, she supports social-justice work and early-childhood education. Peter Buffett’s fund, the NoVo Foundation, promotes alternative ways of living, involving, for example, local agriculture, food co-ops, and worker-owned businesses; and Howard Buffett’s foundation backs agriculture, clean-water, and anti-poverty programs.
