Buffett speeds Berkshire share gifts with 2034 target

Warren Buffett is increasing the pace of his philanthropy, donating almost $6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four family foundations and setting a target to distribute all of his remaining Berkshire shares by the end of 2034. The plan redirects future giving away from the Gates Foundation, a major recipient of Buffett’s Berkshire stock for nearly two decades.

In a Berkshire Hathaway news release, Buffett said his objective is to dispose of his Berkshire holdings within about eight years. The release said any shares he still holds will go to the four family foundations by Dec. 31, 2034.

Buffett, who turns 96 next month, owns Berkshire stock worth more than $140 billion, according to CNBC. On that basis, and before any change in Berkshire’s share price, the timetable would imply annual gifts of at least $17 billion, CNBC calculated. That would be more than twice the roughly $7 billion of stock he gave away last year.

How the latest donation is allocated

The current transfer consists of Berkshire Class B shares, the lower-priced share class commonly used for Buffett’s charitable gifts. Foundations receiving stock can hold it or sell shares over time to fund grants and operations.

The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for Buffett’s late first wife, will receive 9 million Class B shares valued at about $4.5 billion, according to the Berkshire release. Three foundations led by Buffett’s children will each receive 1 million Class B shares, worth just under $500 million apiece: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.

CNBC reported that Buffett gave the same four family foundations about $1.4 billion around this time last year. He also made Thanksgiving-period gifts to them in each of the past four years, including about $1.3 billion last year. The Berkshire release did not say whether a separate Thanksgiving donation will occur this year.

Gates Foundation no longer included

The new timetable leaves the Gates Foundation out of Buffett’s remaining Berkshire distribution. In 2006, Buffett said he was making an annual lifetime pledge of Berkshire Class B shares for the benefit of the foundation established by Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, provided either remained alive and active in its policy and administration.

Under the schedule Buffett set in 2006, which reduced the number of shares donated by 5% each year, CNBC said the Gates Foundation had been due to receive almost $4.5 billion of Berkshire stock this month. CNBC also reported that this year’s larger family-foundation transfers appear to include shares that had previously been expected to go to the Gates Foundation.

Buffett’s gifts to the Gates Foundation have totaled almost $48 billion based on the value of the shares at the time they were donated, according to CNBC. The nearly 321 million shares donated over the years would be worth about $159 billion at current prices, though CNBC reported that the foundation has sold most of those shares to fund its work.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Buffett had paused his scheduled Gates Foundation donation while a law firm reviewed the charity’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, with results expected this summer. CNBC reported in March that Buffett said he had not spoken with Bill Gates since the issue was disclosed and would wait to see what developed before deciding on further giving to the foundation.

Buffett resigned as a Gates Foundation trustee in 2021, CNBC reported, two months after Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce. In 2024, Buffett told The Wall Street Journal that the Gates Foundation would receive no money after his death, following a change to his will that placed more than 99% of his wealth in a charitable trust overseen by his three children.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.