Warren Buffett has awarded $6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to four family foundations. As was expected, the midyear distribution did not include an award to the Gates Foundation that was postponed, if not outright cancelled, pending a report on Gates interactions with the late Jeffrey Epstein. The funding includes shares worth $4.5 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation in Omaha, Nebraska, and shares worth $500 million each to the Howard G. Buffett, Sherwood, and NoVo foundations. The awards will expand ongoing support for reproductive health, global hunger relief, anti-human trafficking efforts, conflict mitigation, early childhood education, and programs serving marginalized girls, women, and Indigenous communities.
Buffett reaffirmed plans to distribute his Berkshire stock–estimated at more than $145 billion–within the decade: “Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034.”
