1 mo. ago • 95%

Warren Buffett gives away another $1.1B and plans for distributing his $147B fortune after his death

apnews.com Warren Buffett gives away another $1.1B and plans for distributing his $147B fortune after his death

Investor Warren Buffett renewed his Thanksgiving tradition of giving by handing out more than $1.1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four of his family's foundations Monday, and he offered new details about who will be handing out the rest of his fortune after his death.

Summary

Warren Buffett gave $1.1 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to family foundations and detailed plans for distributing his $147 billion fortune after his death.

His three children will oversee giving the remainder within 10 years, with designated successors in case they predecease him.

Buffett, 94, reaffirmed his belief in avoiding dynastic wealth, favoring philanthropy instead.

Over the years, he has donated $55 billion to the Gates Foundation but plans to shift focus to his family’s foundations.

Buffett continues leading Berkshire Hathaway while preparing Greg Abel as his successor.

80 comments

I once met a wealth manager for a billionaire whose entire job was to donate money as effectively as possible, focusing on infrastructure and education projects in Central and South America. She explained that the challenges are often unexpected.

For example, most smaller local organizations struggle to absorb large sums of money efficiently. Take, for instance, a group that builds homes for those in need. A sudden donation of millions of dollars can be too difficult to manage efficiently. So they try to be mindful of local needs, build trust, and build long-term partnerships.

So, why not just support many small communities? Well, a billion dollars could fund a thousand 1 million$ projects. That’s why this billionaire hired multiple wealth managers just to handle donations. That chat changed my perspective on how difficult it can be to give away large amounts of money.

Still, I’d rather them pay fair taxes.

134
- I was about to say, they should just pay taxes, after all this is what government is for.
  
  63
  
  But if they donate enough then we will never force them to give up all their excess wealth.
  
  And they like having excess wealth, a lot, like most rich people have hoarding mental disorders.
  
  None of them really want to better society, they just want us to not rip all their skin off and redistribute their wealth so our economies benefit everyone again.
  
  9
  
  Yeah, I was very disappointed in Bill Gates for being pro-philanthropy but against higher taxation. That said, Gates and Buffet don't get the final say. The American people just elected an anti-tax fraudulent billionaire.
  
  9
- It reminds me of this thing I read where countries would give all these donated designer clothes to some country, only for it to collapse their economy because making clothes was one of the only jobs available there.
  
  14
- They definitely need to pay their fair share of taxes. But even that wouldn't be enough. People will always demand more be done.
  
  -3
"Dragon gives away hoard after death. That will fix all the lives he ruined, right?"

71
- How did he ruin lives? Didn't he mostly make his money playing stocks and investing in stuff?
  
  1
  
  Lemmy, in general, thinks anyone with money is evil, and their money was sucked from the teets of the poor. It's sort of annoying. Not just super wealthy people, either. If you have any sort of investment that increases in value over time, you're a bad person. That money should have gone to poor people, somehow.
  
  -5
- He's given billions already.
  
  -18
  
  if I take 100 dollars from you and give back 10 to random people, does that seem fair?
  
  42
Fuck Warren Buffett. He’s just another scumbag who has soaked up wealth by taking full advantage of neoliberal economics. There are no good billionaires.

58
- People are so stupid, they look at that figure and go "147 billion. Huh"
  
  That cunt is a fucking greedy evil bastard and is literally causing children to starve to death because people can't afford food. This evil shit has $18 for every man, woman and child on earth. Think about that.
  
  I'm not some sort of reactionary but I'm astonished how people don't realise just how much suffering these evil fuckwits are causing.
  
  Burn the cunt on a stake
  
  6
  
  Fuckin' amen.
  
  2
- The only correct response honestly.
  
  This fucker, and everyone else should not ever have $147 billion to give away, or anywhere close to it.
  
  I'd argue it isn't his money anyway. These psychos have concocted a system of capitalism that is inherently theft and exploitation. The wealth is dependent on the masses who are kept poor as wage slaves stuck in a perpetual cycle of produce and consume. Which most of us cannot escape.
  
  The masses are the cement and rebar foundation for the billionaires wealth.
  
  Honestly, it ain't his money to give away. I wish people would realize this.
  
  3
Why wait? There is functionally no difference between $1b and $147b. He would get to see the fruits of his efforts if he spends it now.

37
- Because if it takes 10 years to donate that much and the market stays at its 10 year average growth they stand to have something like 190b dollars left when they are done donating that 149b.
  
  21
  
  With that logic he should give it to Jeff Bezos so he can keep growing it after he's gone.
  
  As long as the promise is on the horizon and they don't ever pay up then poor idiots will keep making excuses for them to not dump their ill gotten gains back into the system they stole it from!
  
  5
  
  I feel like you are inventing the concept of an endowment from first principles.
  
  4
  
  I'm pretty sure his foundations and the Gates stuff both are specifically designed to be left with zero money at the end.
  
  1
- I have no idea how money works at large scale, so I guess I have a question for anybody who knows
  
  Could that much money being distributed cause problems with the "economy"? My naive understanding is that the "economy" is (more or less) money moving around. Could hoarded wealth entering circulation cause any kind of problems?
  
  I know my question is already sort of flawed since hoarded wealth isn't exactly sitting still, but I don't know if that makes a difference
  
  2
- Because his true passion in life is turning money into more money. This is what he does, he doesn't buy yachts, or sports teams, or politicians, he just makes more money. He lives very modestly actually, still lives in his same little house and gets like a mcdonald's value meal for breakfast before work every day, he's an interesting guy.
  
  1
  
  (I'm not absolving him of the moral sins inherent in having and acquiring that kind of wealth, I'm just answering the question)
  
  3
He’s entered the Rockefeller stage of his life. Build a bunch of community shelters or rebuild America’s railroad network or something useful, Warren.

29
There comes a certain point where wealth ceases to be a blessing, and managing it becomes a full time occupation. I can respect this decision.

All the more reason to level the playing field, eh?

22
- I would respect it more if I wasn't so jaded, perhaps. But there's been just too many charity foundations involved in scandals of one type or another.
  
  So, yes, let's level the playing field! I'm with you there...
  
  20
- He signed the giving pledge with Bill Gates shortly after its creation.
  
  https://givingpledge.org/
  
  4
No shit. What else would he do with it? Cling on to his fortunes while descending into the particular pits of the underworld?

10
- That is Elon's plan.
  
  9
- Bury it with himself. Ironically, that'd probably do more good than whatever redistribution he's planning.
  
  1
Buffett gives money to Bill Gates to avoid dynastic wealth. Hmm

9
- Not Bill Gates, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "The primary stated goals of the foundation are to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty across the world, and to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology in the U.S.".
  
  13
  
  Adam Ruins Everything on Billionaire Philanthropy
  
  11
  
  Riiiiight. Like the Clinton foundation!
  
  3
  
  Yes that is the goal they State and the propaganda they write.
  
  1
Dude could randomly give 147,000 people 1 million dollars but he's more likely to just give it to charities that his buds or family will benefit from.

9
Everyone hates billionaires for hoarding their money, but then it's also a problem when they're giving it away to charity.

Billionaires suck and shouldn't exist, but they do. I know this is going to get downvoted to hell because it seems a majority of the users here can't stand anything remotely positive being said about billionaires. But guys - it's an isolated good thing when billionaires give away large sums of their money to charitable causes. Doesn't mean that they shouldnt pay more in taxes, or that they're wonderful people, or that they accumulated their wealth in moral ways. All of these things can be true at the same time.

7
- The question for me is what charities and how they are chosen. What demographics are the charities intending to assist, and who are they potentially intending to exclude? Even through charity, billionaires can push agendas and affect who receives privileges and who doesn't.
  
  3
  
  Governments are also often guilty of favoring funding towards their favorite causes. Not defending billionaires here, but pouring money into mediatic causes, while ignoring or underfunding less visible causes is definitely a thing.
  
  1
- The trouble is that billionaires who remain sympathetic to Carnegie's "gospel of wealth" are vanishing, while narcissists who see themselves as American oligarchs are proliferating. It isn't hard to see how dynasties could be more politically powerful on a long timescale.
  
  Many would call this a natural progression, and for my part I don't envy whoever ends up on the other side of that debate - money being the root of all evil.
  
  1
Write everyone in the US cheque for ~$400

5
He should give it to Bernie

5
So all those articles saying he sold to be in cash because market crash was coming were completely off

3
Anyway I can email him asking for a couple hundred thousand? Drop in the bucket, he wouldn't even notice, yet my life would be changed forever.

3
- Don't worry, I'm pretty sure there will be an uptick in emails of "spokespersons" reaching out to you personally to bring the news you have been personally selected in sharing the wealth.
  
  They just need you to make a small payment of €10k for insurance purposes.
  
  1
This guy seems like a narcissist. "I haven't been in the news in a months because of trump, let me do somthing news worthy"

Edit. He's donating to his own foundation you doughnuts

-3
- This take would make more sense if it wasn't something he does every year.
  
  13
  
  "donating 1.1 billion to his family's foundation" he's literally doing this to avoid paying taxes
  
  You absolute fool
  
  1
- Except this is a good thing, and will encourage others.
  
  -1

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