Warren Buffett has revised plans for his estate after his death. Mr Buffett, 93, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said The Wall Street Journal He has changed his will and will not continue to make posthumous donations to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Instead, he will allocate his assets to a new charitable trust managed by his three children.
“The Gates Foundation will not receive any money after my death,” Mr. Buffett told the Journal.
Mr. Buffett said he has made changes to his will several times, and the recent changes were motivated by his confidence in his children’s values and ability to distribute his assets appropriately. Each of his children has a charitable organization.
“I feel very good about the values of all three of my children, and I have 100% confidence in how they will carry things forward,” Buffett said.
Previously, Mr. Buffett said more than 99% of his wealth is earmarked for philanthropic use by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four family-related charitable entities: the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.
For now, it appears that Mr. Buffett will continue to donate to the Gates Foundation during his lifetime.
Berkshire Hathaway announced Friday that Mr. Buffett is converting about 9,000 Class A shares into more than 13 million Class B shares. About 9.3 million shares will be allocated to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, while the remainder will be distributed among four Buffett family charities.
“Warren Buffett has been enormously generous to the Gates Foundation through contributions and advice for more than 18 years,” foundation CEO Mark Suzman told CNN. “We are deeply grateful for his most recent gift and contribution of nearly $43 billion to our work.” (Melinda announced in May that she would leave the organization; her last day is June 7, though the foundation has not yet changed its name.)
Last year, Mr. Buffett donated about $870 million to his family’s four charities, and will give them about $750 million in 2022.
After these newly announced donations, Mr. Buffett owns 207,963 Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares and 2,586 Class B shares, with a total value of approximately $128 billion.