Buffett Donates $6 Billion in Berkshire Shares to Charities

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Bloomberg

June 28, 2025 at 1:45 AM EDT


Warren Buffett will donate about $6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares to five foundations as part of a pledge he made nearly two decades ago.

About 9.43 million Class B shares will be given to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, according to a statement on Saturday. Another 2.92 million shares will be donated to his children’s foundations — Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation — as well as the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after the billionaire’s late wife.

The 94-year-old started the Giving Pledge in 2010 alongside friends Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates with the goal of donating Buffett’s fortune either in his lifetime or at his death. Four years earlier, he had started making massive donations to the Gates’s foundation, as well as foundations tied to his children.

“The mathematics of the lifetime commitments to the five foundations are interesting,” Buffett said. “The five foundations have received Berkshire B shares that had a value when received of about $60 billion, substantially more than my entire net worth in 2006.”

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-28/buffett-donates-6-billion-in-berkshire-shares-to-charities

[bif]

1. That's what good people do!

I'm sure the Orange Rapist will follow suit.

[marble falls]

2. He must be feeling the clock running out. He's one of the few people who've been able to base their fortune on ...

... their own personal integrity. Rightfully or not.

[2naSalit]

3. That's nice.

If we had a government that actually did what it is supposed to do, we wouldn't need charities.

[BOSSHOG]

4. Boggles my mind

That we have the DAV, Disabled American Veterans dependent on charitable donations.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. I'm sure he has good reasons

as he's a smart and ethical man.

Rolling assets from one billionaire to another even with similar values seems redundant to me.

Some billionaires might consider home renovation loans, or small business startup loans to ordinary people.

[nilram]

6. Donating to the Gates Foundation doesn't increase Bill's net worth.

Buffet doesn't want the overhead of starting his own so he's finding others that are doing good work.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Some foundations and charties actually do that type of thing

And note that he is also providing money to the Foundations run by his children and the one on behalf of his wife.

For example what his son's does (Howard G. Buffett Foundation) - https://www.thehowardgbuffettfoundation.org/focus-areas/ and his daughter - (Sherwood Foundation) https://sherwoodfoundation.org/

Just 2 days ago, Gates' Foundation had recently pledged to pick up supporting the funding for the global vaccine work that 45 had Muskrat cut off - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143486249

Gates' (ex- ) wife has been doing her own donation in support of women and girls - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143247291

These people aren't "sitting" on their money like Bozos and Muskrat.

[Bayard]

8. A principled billionaire

Go figure.

[24601]

9. Billionaires and their money can lead to interesting conversations. What they doesn't produce are general rules

that can be applied easily across the population of our billionaires.

We tend to be OK with Warren Buffett deciding how his money will be used. But if he were instead planning to spend it on selecting the next generation of Republican House and Senate candidates, DU's mood would shift. We would likely insist that the treasury take it all for public purposes, such as reducing the debt or paying off student loans.

It's not necessarily a good thing for the rich to get the idea that they get to decide where their money goes when they die.

[LudwigPastorius]

10. I do think Buffet is the least odious of the billionaires, but...

he's 94 years old, and $6 billion is 4% of his net worth.

He'd better get the giving into gear if he's going to divest himself before he shuffles off.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. He's already dished out $60 billion over the past 15 years (not inflation adjusted I expect)

and per the article, he apparently has a plan of taking care of the remainder upon his death.