Legendary investor Warren Buffett announced his resignation as a trustee from the Gates Foundation and said he would be giving away more than $4 billion of his wealth.
In 2006, Buffett pledged to donate all of his Berkshire Hathaway shares through gifts to five different foundations. The Wednesday announcement marks the halfway point of the philanthropist’s goal.
“Today is a milestone for me,” Buffett said in a statement. “In 2006, I pledged to distribute all of my Berkshire Hathaway shares — more than 99% of my net worth — to philanthropy. With today’s $4.1 billion distribution, I’m halfway there.”
Around the time of the 2006 announcement, he owned about 475,000 shares of Berkshire and has since disbursed funds to the Gates Foundation, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation. He now has 238,624, which are worth about $100 billion.
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Buffett also used the opportunity to announce that he was resigning from the Gates Foundation. He pointed out that his resignation is not without precedent, given that he isn’t a trustee for any of the other charitable organizations to which he donates.
“For years, I have been a trustee, an inactive trustee at that, of only one recipient of my funds, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I am now resigning from that post, just as I have done at all corporate boards other than Berkshire’s,” Buffett said.
Buffett also praised Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman, who has helmed the organization through the divorce of its founders, Bill and Melinda Gates. Buffett, known as the Oracle of Omaha, emphasized that despite the resignation, his goals are “100% in sync” with the foundation and said his physical presence isn’t needed for those goals to be achieved.
Buffett has worked with the Gateses in the past, including on crafting the giving pledge, which is an invitation for billionaires to commit publicly to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.
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The news comes after thousands of pages of tax documents were leaked to the investigative nonprofit organization ProPublica. The report showed that even those who advocate for higher taxes on the wealthy, including Buffett, paid little to nothing in federal income taxes, though no wrongdoing was alleged. Buffett is worth $104 billion as of Wednesday.
“Over many decades, I have accumulated an almost incomprehensible sum simply by doing what I love to do,” Buffett said on Wednesday. “Compound interest, a long runway, wonderful associates, and our incredible country have simply worked their magic.”
