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FRI, JUN 28, 2024
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Buffett confirms he has cut the Gates Foundation from his will |
Warren Buffett is leaving no room for doubt.
"The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death," he told The Wall Street Journal in an interview for a story published today.
That was the strong implication of a news release last November in which he told shareholders his three children were "the named trustees of the charitable trust that will receive 99%-plus of my wealth," according to the provisions of his then-current will. Howard, Susie, and Peter Buffett, who each have their own foundations, would have to "act unanimously" as they administered that trust, a requirement that he repeated to the Journal. In a news release today, Buffett says it is "unlikely" there will be more changes to his will before he dies. |
Howard, Susie, Warren, and Peter Buffett at the 2011 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images) |
In his 2006 letter to Bill and Melinda Gates detailing his "irrevocable" commitment to make sizable annual gifts to their foundation throughout his lifetime, he wrote, "I will soon write a new will that will provide for a continuance of this commitment – by distribution of the remaining earmarked shares or in some other manner – after my death."
We now know for sure that commitment will instead end when he dies.
Even before last November's letter, there were suggestions the Gates Foundation contributions could end after Buffett's death.
In 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which supports abortion rights, was expecting it would get the remainder of Buffett's fortune.
Now it will be up to his three children to decide. |
Meanwhile, Buffett's annual donations hit record $5.3 billion |
One of the conditions of Buffett's 2006 promise to make annual gifts to the Gates Foundation was that either Bill or Melinda Gates remain an active administrator. Melinda Gates announced last month she would resign as co-chair as of June 7. The couple divorced in May 2021. (One month later, Buffett resigned as a trustee of the foundation, saying his "physical participation" was not needed for it to achieve its goals.) Bill Gates, however, is still chair of the foundation, and two other technical conditions continue to be met, so the annual contributions continue. Today's news release says that in keeping with the schedule he established in 2006, Buffett is giving the Gates Foundation more than 9.9 million Berkshire Class B shares with a current value of nearly $4.1 billion. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his late first wife, gets more than 993 thousand shares valued at $405 million.
And the three foundations run by his three children are receiving 695 thousand shares each, currently worth around $284 million. The total for the day: $5.3 billion. |
Even though the numbers of B shares donated decreases each year in accordance with Buffett's schedule, their 22% increase since last year's summer donations makes this year's value a record high. For the last two years, Buffett has been making additional contribution to his children's foundations around Thanksgiving. |
BYD sales suddenly accelerate |
Berkshire Hathaway has stepped up the pace of selling off its BYD position.
A filing in Hong Kong earlier this week reveals that as of June 19, Berkshire owned almost 65.9 million shares, or just under 6% of the Chinese EV automaker's outstanding shares. That's a 13% reduction of 9.8 million shares since its previous filing showed it held 75.7 million shares as of June 11. |
Hong Kong rules only require a filing when the percentage stake crosses a round number, so we don't know specifics about the sales.
We do know, however, that there were 230 calendar days between the previous two filings for the drop from 8% to 7%, putting the average sales per day at 51,857 shares. The reduction from 7% to 6% took just 8 calendar days, averaging 1,229,125 shares per day.
Berkshire has now sold almost 71% of the 225 million shares it purchased for $230 million in 2008. The remaining position is currently valued at $1.9 billion.
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BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET Some links may require a subscription |
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| HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE |
'I don’t have to bet' on technology companies (1999) |
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BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - June 28, 2024 |
Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S., Japan, and Hong Kong, by market value, based on today's closing prices.
Holdings are as of March 31, 2024 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on May 15, 2024, except for:
The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker. |
Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.) If you aren't already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.
Also, Buffett's annual letters to shareholders are highly-recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire's website. -- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch |
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