One of the most philanthropic billionaires of all time is Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B) CEO Warren Buffett. The CEO recently made his annual gift to the Gates Foundation. Here’s what Bill Gates had to say of the gift and how much Buffett has donated to the foundation over the years.
What Happened: On Tuesday, Buffett made donations of Berkshire Hathaway shares to several organizations.
Buffett converted 9,608 Class A shares of Berkshire Hathaway into 14,412,000 Class B shares. The CEO then donated 11,003,166 Class B shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 1,100,316 to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 770,218 shares each to the Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.
After the donations, Buffett owns 229,016 Class A shares and 276 Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
Related Link: 5 Things You Might Not Know About Bill Gates
Why It’s Important: Gates, who is the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) took to Twitter to thank Buffett for the donation.
“I’m grateful for Warren’s gifts to support the foundation’s work and for our many years of friendship. When he decided in 2006 to make these gifts, it moved me to tears. It still does,” Gates said.
Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman highlighted the amount of money that has been contributed by Buffett to the non-profit.
“Today, we received Warren Buffett’s annual gift, bringing his contributions to more than $36 billion since 2006. Thank you, Warren for your continued generosity and your belief in the mission of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” Suzman said.
Over the years Buffett and Gates have been philanthropic with their money, one of the items noted by Benzinga is that when the wealth of the two friends and billionaires is combined, it now lags behind the fortune of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.
At the time of writing, Gates is the fourth-richest person in the world, worth $113 billion, and Buffett ranks fifth with $101 billion in wealth.
Photo: Courtesy of Greg Rubenstein and Fortune Live Media on Flickr.
