American billionaire and investor Warren Buffett has donated Berkshire Hathaway shares worth a total of $6 billion to five charitable organizations, reports the Baltimore Chronicle with reference to Reuters.
This marks Buffett’s largest annual donation in the past two decades. A total of 9.43 million shares were transferred to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 943,384 shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, and 660,366 shares each to three other charitable organizations led by his children: the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation, headed by Peter Buffett.
Despite the sizable donation, Warren Buffett retains ownership of 13.8% of Berkshire Hathaway shares. He also confirmed that he has no intention of selling any more of his Berkshire stock.
Last year, Buffett revised his will, stipulating that 99.5% of his remaining fortune after his death will be directed to a charitable fund overseen by his children. They will have approximately ten years to distribute the funds and must reach a unanimous decision on how to allocate them.
Susie Buffett heads the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which funds reproductive health programs. The foundation is named after her mother, Warren Buffett’s first wife. The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, meanwhile, focuses on global hunger relief and combating human trafficking, and it has also provided substantial support to Ukraine. Notably, it contributed to the restoration of the “Factor-Druk” printing house in Kharkiv.
Earlier we wrote that EU mobilizes €150 billion for investments in partner nations.