Warren Buffett to Donate 13.01 Million Berkshire Hathaway Class B Shares to Charities

TapTechNews June 30th news, the investment legend Warren Buffett announced on Friday that he will convert the 8,674 Class A shares he holds into 13.01 million Class B shares and donate them to five charitable foundations. The value of these shares, based on Thursday's closing price, is about 5.3 billion US dollars (TapTechNews note: currently about 38.577 billion Chinese yuan).

The five charitable institutions are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation. Among them, the Gates Foundation will receive 9.93 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares, and the other four foundations will each receive 695,000 shares.

Buffett, who will turn 94 in August, said in a statement that the total value of his remaining Class A shares is about 127 billion US dollars, accounting for 99.5% of his net worth.

This donation continues Buffett's annual grant plan established in 2006. Since the implementation of this plan, according to Buffett, the above five foundations have cumulatively received Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares worth about 55 billion US dollars.

Buffett emphasized that in the past 18 years, he has neither bought any Class A or Class B shares nor sold any shares, and 'will not plan to do so in the future.'

Buffett previously said that his will would allocate more than 99% of his estate to charity. Buffett also designated his three children as the executors of his will and the designated trustees of the charitable trust, which will receive 99% of Buffett's wealth. When managing the testamentary trust, the three must act unanimously. The testamentary trust will liquidate itself in approximately ten years and operate with streamlined staff.

On June 28 local time, Buffett said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that after his death, the remaining wealth would almost entirely be donated to the new charitable trust fund managed by his daughter and two sons. In addition, Buffett also clearly stated that after his death, the donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will cease accordingly.

The price of Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares rose slightly by 0.2% in premarket trading.