Buffett donates his billions to Gates foundation

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett plans to distribute more than $30 billion of his stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Buffett, 75, plans to commit 10 million class B shares of his company, Berkshire Hathaway, to the Gates Foundation. They will be distributed at a rate of 5 percent of the balance annually. Based on the current value of the stock, Buffett's commitment is more $30 billion, which doubles the size of the funds available to the Gates Foundation.

The Gates Foundation will ultimately receive 85 percent of Buffett's personal wealth, rather than the investor's three children or the foundations that they run.

"My kids were elated when I told them (about the Gates Foundation donation). They knew my views on inherited wealth and shared them," Buffett said during a press conference on Monday. "I believe in equality of opportunity...They should not inherit my position in society, based on the womb that they were born from."

Buffett, a long-time friend of Gates, said he chose to allocate the bulk of his wealth to the Gates Foundation after becoming familiar with the organization and the results it had achieved, based on dollars invested.

"The results are terrific," Buffett said.

The Gates Foundation focuses on global health issues, such as the GAVI Alliance to distribute vaccines to children in poor countries, and education, such as the United Negro College Fund Gates Millennium Scholars Program.

"We've known Warren since 1991, and it is his view that wealth should go back to society that got us thinking of our own foundation," Gates said during the press conference.

While Buffett will serve as a director on the Gates Foundation, he said he prefers spending his time as a professional money manager at Berkshire Hathaway and leaving the details of investing his charitable contributions to others.

When investing, Buffett said he seeks companies that are easy to understand. But the billionaire noted that philanthropy is the opposite. He said it requires a willingness to take large risks to fix complex problems that others have likely failed trying to solve.

The Gates Foundation not only faces that challenge but also the challenge of doubling the level of its funding to charities.

"It'll be a big challenge to make sure we're using the money in the right way," Gates said. "We'll be giving away (a combined) $3 billion a year and will do our best to make sure all the money is well spent."

The Gates Foundation plans to delve deeper in its existing areas of focus, Melinda Gates said during the press conference. It will also possibly expand into other issues, such as microlending in order to help poor regions become more self-sufficient in agriculture and biotech, she said.

She added that despite Buffett's financial commitment, the Gates Foundation will continue to partner with other charitable foundations to maximize financial resources and lessons learned. The Gates Foundation, for example, works with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation to invest in Texas schools, as well as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to deliver medicines in India.

Buffett's financial commitment to the Gates Foundation is also contingent upon either Gates or his wife remaining actively involved in the organization. Earlier this month, Gates announced that in two years, he will be stepping down from his daily involvement with Microsoft as its chief software architect, in order to concentrate on the foundation full-time.

Reuters contributed to this report.

[FitimBlaku]

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet

These men will be remembered as legends. Their generosity goes a far way and sets an example for the billionaires of tomorrow.

[FitimBlaku]

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet

These men will be remembered as legends. Their generosity goes a far way and sets an example for the billionaires of tomorrow.

[herby67]

It's not only about generosity

Bill Gates has been very smart in making use of this money, applying it where it can make a long term difference instead of just trying to look good.
That, combined with the sheer amount of money they are donating, can make a really good change to the world. I hope others join in.

[Don_Dodge]

Gates leads by example, Buffet and others will follow

Bill Gates stepping down from daily duties at Microsoft may be the best thing he has ever done. Warren Buffet giving his vast fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sets an example for other billionaires. Maybe Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, and others will follow.

I wrote a blog about the Gates Foundation, their charter, and what they have done. No libraries, art museums, and concert halls for the rich, but real humanitarian aid for the poorest and neediest people in the world. http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2006/06/the_bill_and_me.html

[aabcdefghij987654321]

Paul Allen has set his sights on the future in a different way

He's promoting space exploration with his money. That's not as immediate as the Gates foundation but it has the potential to make a big difference in the long run.

[kieranmullen]

So what if you wrote a blog

Spamvertise somewhere else. You are almost as lame as the "article root" losers who have seem to be doing this in the last few months.

[FutureGuy]

How about..

..donating your money as tax write off. There are those like you and then there are those like Gates.

[FutureGuy]

sorry meant this as a reply to

..

[SqlserverCode]

Gates steps down

Gates steps down a week later Buffett pledges 30 Billion. Coincidence? I don't think so

http://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/

[Seaspray0]

Coincidence

8 hotdog buns in a bag, 10 hot dog weiners in a pack. A coincidence? I don't think so.

[YankeePoodle]

just makes me proud

Just makes me proud that I lived during the times of people like Gates & Buffett.

[news_reader]

they are the good guys

Sam Walton died with a net worth of $55 billion. He just left it to five heirs - so they can continue to hoard it. His money, his choice - but it's nice to have guys like Gates and Buffett to set good examples.

[lingsun]

Why not give it to the Salvation Army?

It seems like such a waste to give it to the Bill Gates Foundation. The money could be used very efficiently in America by the Salvation Army. I'd rather see the money used to provide assistance to America's poor than it used for ineffective AIDS programs in Africa.

[ronjay]

Whatever.

America's poor are richer than Africa's rich.
And, suggesting that the AIDS programs in Africa are ineffective
without backing it up with empirical evidence is irresponsible,
dismissive, and just plain pointless.

[newcreation]

why not the salvation army?

hes a liberal and had even given money to such cases as planned parenthood

[206538395198018178908092208948]

An extreme mismatch?

I never saw such different people come together like this in my life. W.B.; A highly respected person, and a low-life like Bill Gates. Excuse me Bill, but you can't buy your salvation. You should be in jail.

[206538395198018178908092208948]

An extreme mismatch?

I never saw such different people come together like this in my life. W.B.; A highly respected person, and a low-life like Bill Gates. Excuse me Bill, but you can't buy your salvation. You should be in jail. Any money you have was obtained illegaly, and at the expense of society.

[erictn]

You sir,

are a complete idiot.

[Maccess]

I hope Buffet knows what he's doing

Many Gates Foundation donations are not real money donations. Many of these are $100,000 in cash and $1,000,000 in Microsoft Software licenses.

I know Buffet is a smart man, for his sake I hope he put clauses in his donation agreement that his money is not for "buying" Microsoft products then donating the software, but for direct donations to the recipients.

If not, he just bought $30 Billion worth of software licenses, whose main benefit will be to lower the global piracy rate for Windows software by a few tenths of a percent.

[FutureGuy]

I am guessing he does...

...they don't call him the "Oracle of Omaha" for nothing!!! If Gate's foundation is routing money to MS there would have been more then you talking about it. I am guessing he did his homework before pleading a wopping 30 billion.

[Christopher Hall]

Fun with English

>>The Gates Foundation will ultimately receive 85 percent of Buffett's personal wealth, rather than the investor's three children or the foundations that they run.<<
Are we to believe that The Gates Foundation accepts children as donations? Similarly, do children have a specific tax deduction associated with their donations to charitable organizations?

[handdrawn]

Well...

I know that when I tried to donate MY three kids to PETA, I did NOT recieve any kind of tax deduction... just a visit from family services.

[Seaspray0]

More fun with english

"do children have a specific tax deduction associated with their donations to charitable organizations?"

Of course! It's called child support, but you have to pay it rather than receive it. The ex-wife will be an extremely charitable organization when she receives it.

[linagloves]

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