Buffett announces that he will stop donating to the Gates Foundation after his death

OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett announced an additional $5.3 billion to charity on Friday. But in a crucial reversal from his longstanding giving plan, he announced that he would stop giving to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation after his death and would let his three children decide how the rest of his $128 billion fortune should be distributed.

Buffett outlined his new plan for his estate in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The 93-year-old billionaire who runs Berkshire Hathaway did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press on Friday about his plan, which calls for Howard, Susie and Peter Buffett to unanimously decide where his Berkshire Hathaway shares should go after his death.

Since unveiling his giving plan in 2006, Buffett has donated about $55 billion worth of Berkshire stock to five foundations, with by far the largest share going to the Gates Foundation. The other four foundations are linked to his family, including the foundations run by each of his children.

“The Gates Foundation will not receive any money after my death,” said Buffett, who resigned from the Gates Foundation board in 2021 after Bill Gates, one of his best friends, announced his divorce from Melinda French Gates. French Gates left the Gates Foundation earlier this year.

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In his first pledge to the Gates Foundation in 2006, Buffett wrote that he planned to include the foundation in his will. “I will soon prepare a new will providing for a continuation of this commitment – through distribution of the remaining reserved shares or otherwise – after my death,” he wrote at the time, referring to the annual gifts of Berkshire Hathaway stock he pledged.

But Buffett said in a statement on Friday that his original commitments were only valid until his death.

Buffett will let his children decide what to do with his Berkshire shares, just as he does now when he lets foundations decide how to use his gifts. He said they already know what his fundraising goal is.

“It should be used to help the people who are not as fortunate as we are,” Buffett told the Journal. “There are eight billion people in the world, and I and my children are in the luckiest hundredth of one percent or so. There are many ways to help people.”

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, said in a statement that he appreciated Buffett’s generosity over the years.

“Warren Buffett has given extraordinarily generous gifts and advice to the Gates Foundation for over 18 years,” said Suzman. “He has played an invaluable role in promoting and shaping the Foundation’s work to create a world in which everyone can live healthy, productive lives. We are deeply grateful for his recent gift and contributions totaling approximately $43 billion to our work.”

The value of Buffett’s donations has risen as Berkshire’s share price has steadily risen. The shares he has given away so far are already worth more than his entire fortune of $43 billion when he announced his plan. The conglomerate’s most-traded Class B shares have risen about 22 percent over the past 12 months.

“Nothing extraordinary happened at Berkshire; a very long track record, a simple but overall solid deployment of capital, the American tailwind and the effects of compound interest have produced my current wealth,” Buffett said in a statement. “My will provides that more than 99% of my wealth will go to charity.”

Buffett’s own Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation has been a strong advocate for abortion rights over the years, but he has let his children and the Gates Foundation decide how to distribute his donations. Howard Buffett has donated more than $500 million to help war-torn regions since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Buffett also occasionally makes other donations to unnamed charities, but has never disclosed the details of those donations.

Buffett will still own 207,963 Berkshire Class A shares and 2,586 Class B shares after giving away just over 13 million Class B shares on Friday. Because of the voting power of the Class A shares, Buffett continues to have by far the greatest say in the affairs of the giant Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate, which he leads as chairman and CEO. He has not bought or sold Berkshire shares in the past 18 years.

Buffett has said that one of his vice presidents, Greg Abel, who already runs all of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, will take over as CEO after he leaves. Berkshire owns a diverse range of manufacturing, retail and services businesses, including railroad BNSF, several major utilities, Dairy Queen and Precision Castparts. Insurance companies, including Geico and General Reinsurance, are also a core part of Berkshire, and the company owns a huge stock portfolio dominated by iconic companies such as Apple, Coca-Cola, American Express and Bank of America.

Buffett’s son Howard, who already sits on Berkshire’s board of directors, is expected to become chairman after his father’s death. However, Buffett’s children will not play an active role in the company’s day-to-day operations.

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Associated Press writer Thalia Beaty contributed to this report from New York.