Buffett's will exposed: Nearly $130 billion in assets still "given to children"

The stock god Buffett, who has long been investing a huge amount of wealth in charity, said in a media interview on Friday that he plans to stop donating to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation after his death and let his three children decide how to distribute his remaining approximately $128 billion in assets.

As he hands over his assets of hundreds of billions of dollars to his children to manage through a foundation, the global charity landscape will also be rewritten.

Huge wealth to be inherited by children-managed foundation, Gates Foundation will not receive Buffett's inheritance

93-year-old Buffett revealed in a media interview on Friday that he currently holds about $130 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock. This huge wealth will be managed by his daughter and two sons after his death, for a newly established foundation focusing on charity.

Buffett made it clear:

The Gates Foundation will not receive any donations after I pass away.

Over the past nearly 20 years, Buffett has donated about $43 billion to the Gates Foundation. On Friday, he also announced a $4 billion donation to the Gates Foundation. Previously, Buffett had promised to donate 5% of his Berkshire shares to the Gates Foundation annually until his death. This means that the number of shares donated will decrease each year, but the increase in stock price may mean an increase in the value of the donation. The price of Berkshire Class B shares is now more than six times what it was at the end of June 2006.

The new foundation will become the world's largest charity organization

Once the Buffett family's new foundation is established, it will immediately become one of the world's largest charity organizations. With a size exceeding $75 billion for the Gates Foundation and $16 billion for the Ford Foundation, it is expected to rival the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which has assets of $108 billion (as of 2022). This means that the new foundation will have the ability to fund projects worth billions of dollars annually, making a significant impact on global charity work.

Buffett stated that he did not specify a specific direction for charity for his children. He said in the interview:

This money should be used to help those who are not as fortunate as we are. There are 8 billion people in the world, and my children and I are among the luckiest one-thousandth. There are many ways to help others.

Buffett's three children have already made contributions in the charity field:

1. 71-year-old Susie Buffett lives in Omaha, the headquarters of Berkshire, and serves as the chair of the Sherwood Foundation, which focuses on promoting early childhood education and social justice. She also chairs the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (named after her mother), which funds reproductive rights and college scholarship programs.

2. 69-year-old Howard Buffett lives in Decatur, Illinois, runs a farm, and leads the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which is dedicated to food security, conflict resolution, and combating human trafficking.

3. 66-year-old Peter Buffett is a composer who lives near Kingston, New York, and jointly leads the NoVo Foundation with his wife Jennifer Buffett, whose projects include collaborations with indigenous communities Susie and Howard Buffett also serve on the board of Berkshire Hathaway.

The Relationship Between Buffett and the Gates Foundation

The relationship between Buffett and the Gates Foundation can be traced back to 2006 when he announced annual donations to the foundation and four family charities. In 2010, he co-launched the "Giving Pledge" with Bill and Melinda Gates, inviting billionaires to pledge at least half of their wealth to charity.

Buffett has been a trustee of the Gates Foundation since 2006. In 2021, following the divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates, he announced his resignation. Melinda also announced in May of this year that she would resign from the Gates Foundation to focus on her own charitable endeavors.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, expressed gratitude for Buffett's contributions:

Warren Buffett has provided extremely generous donations and advice to the Gates Foundation for over 18 years. He has played an invaluable role in advocating for and shaping the work of the foundation, dedicated to creating a world where everyone can lead a healthy and productive life