Billionaire Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffett announced a major revision to his will on Friday, revealing that his charitable donations to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will not continue after his death. Instead, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the 93-year-old Oracle of Omaha said that his $128 billion personal fortune will be distributed by his three children, with “no money coming” to Gates on his will is executed.
As reported by the Journal, the latest version of Buffett’s will place his vast wealth into a charitable trust overseen by Howard, Susie, and Peter Buffett, requiring them to agree unanimously on where to allocate the funds. Since outlining his first giving plan in 2006, Buffett has given roughly $55 billion in Berkshire stock to five foundations, including four groups run by members of his family and the Gates Foundation, which has received the largest share by far.
However, despite the billions donated to the foundation during his lifetime, Buffett has no plans to continue the contributions after his death. “The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death,” said Buffett, who previously served on the foundation’s board alongside longtime best friend Bill Gates. Buffett left the board in 2021 when the Microsoft founder announced that he and Melinda French-Gates were divorcing. French-Gates left the foundation earlier this year.
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Buffett did not elaborate on why his past pledges of support for the Gates Foundation will only last until his death, but he indicated that he would prefer to have his assets managed by his living heirs rather than his posthumous instructions. This will allow the funds to respond to changing tax laws and other unforeseen developments.
“I feel very, very good about the values of my three children, and I have 100% trust in how they will carry things out,” he said. “I like to think I can think outside the box, but I’m not sure if I can think outside the box when it’s 6 feet below the surface and do a better job than three people who are on the surface who I trust completely.”
Susie Buffett, 71, chairs the Sherwood Foundation, which promotes childhood education and social justice, as well as the Susan Buffet Foundation, which funds reproductive healthcare and provides college scholarships.
Howard Buffett, 69, heads the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, focused on food security, conflict mitigation, and combating human trafficking.
Peter Buffett, 66, co-leads the NoVo Foundation with his wife, with an emphasis on reaching indigenous communities.
“It should be used to help the people that haven’t been as lucky as we have been,” Buffett said of his vast wealth. “There’s eight billion people in the world, and me and my kids, we’ve been in the luckiest 100th of 1% or something. There’s lots of ways to help people.”
Despite his plans to discontinue support for the Gates Foundation after his death, Buffett will remain a supporter during his lifetime. On Friday, he announced plans to convert 8,674 Class A Berkshire shares into Class B, which will be donated to his charities of choice. This included roughly $4 billion in stock to the Gates Foundation, as well as $400 million to the Susan Buffett Foundation and $280 million to each of the funds run by his children.
One Class A share carries the ownership stake of 1,500 Class B shares.
“Warren Buffett has been exceedingly generous to the Gates Foundation through more than 18 years of contributions and advice,” said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation. “He has played an invaluable role in championing and shaping the foundation’s work to create a world where every person can live a healthy, productive life. We are deeply grateful for his most recent gift and contributions totaling approximately $43 billion to our work.”
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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