Billionaire Warren Buffett gave away to charities almost 22.9 million of his class B common stock from Berkshire Hathaway Inc., as it was announced in that holding company’s press release.
As many as 17.5 million shares have been donated to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Berkshire Hathaway’s shares of class B were trading $115 apiece on a closing trading session on July 8. Thus, the generous billionaire gave the aid worth $2 billion to Gates Foundation.
Moreover, Buffett allocated 5.4 million Berkshire shares among other charity agencies. On the whole, the investor gave away $2.6 billion as charitable gifts.
As noted by Bloomberg, Buffett broke his own record of 2008 when he had donated $1.8 billion to Gates Foundation. In the long run, the latter has raised funds worth nearly $11.5 billion from Buffett, Forbes reported referring to its own estimates.
According to Forbes, Berkshire’s owner has given away to charities the amount equal to $20 billion during his lifetime until the present. Only Bill Gates turns out to be the more benevolent billionaire who has already donated $28 billion. Buffett and Gates launched the Giving Pledge campaign. The billionaires, who were inspired by the idea, gave the promise to donate at least 50% of their fortunes to philanthropy. The Chairman and CEO of Berkshire has pledged to give away 99% of his wealth that is now worth slightly over $59 billion.