Buffett to offload Berkshire stake in 8 years, Gates snubbed

Warren Buffett is ramping up the pace of his annual donations of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares to charitable organizations run by his three children, putting him on track to completely dispose of his stake in the company over the next eight years.For the first time in two decades, Buffett decided to skip his midyear donations to the Gates Foundation and didn’t list that among the organizations that will receive future gifts. That comes after a trove of documents released earlier this year by the US Justice Department reignited scrutiny of Bill Gates’ ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Instead, the 95-year-old philanthropist and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway plans to give 1 million Class B shares to the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation, which are each led by one of his children, according to a statement Tuesday. The billionaire is also giving 9 million shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after the billionaire’s late wife.

“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,” Buffett said. “The goal is to have the grants grow annually to each of the three foundations managed by each of my children and the annual grant to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation grow at a somewhat greater rate.”

The billionaire currently owns 188,290 Class A shares of Berkshire and 1,162 Class B shares.Buffett said last year that he wanted to accelerate charitable giving to the foundations so his children can more easily dispose of his estate upon his death. About a year ago, the Berkshire chairman gave about $320 million worth of shares to each of the three foundations before pledging to give approximately $200 million to each organization later in that year.

The Gates Foundation commissioned a review of its past interactions with Epstein and intends to examine policies for vetting new philanthropic partnerships. Buffett is awaiting the results of that review before making additional gifts to the foundation, the Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Berkshire shares have declined 8% through Monday since their historic high in May last year, right before Buffett announced he would leave his role as chief executive officer. The S&P 500 gained 32% over the same period.