On June 28th local time, Buffett rarely revealed the latest inheritance arrangements in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. In the latest arrangement, Buffett donated all remaining wealth after his death to a newly established charitable trust fund, which is jointly supervised and managed by his daughter Susan Buffett, two sons Howard Buffett, and Peter Buffett. Three people must unanimously decide how to use the money in this foundation. Buffett stated that he has made multiple revisions to his will and has formulated his current plan after seeing the children become more mature.
About his children, Buffett told his son Howard: "Consider developing important projects with your brothers and sisters. Pay attention to your hometown community, but have a broader vision. Judge according to the degree of fit between the project and your goals and the chance of success, not according to the person who made the request. I expect that you will make some mistakes, but if you only make the 'safe' decision, then nothing important will be completed."
In addition, in his latest interview, Buffett made it clear that "I won't have the money to go to the Gates Foundation after I pass away." According to the Gates Foundation's statistics, Buffett donated $39.3 billion to the foundation from 2006 to 2023.
Once the new foundation of the Buffett family is established, it will immediately become one of the world's largest charitable organizations. The Gates Foundation, with a scale exceeding $75 billion, and the Ford Foundation, with a scale exceeding $16 billion, are expected to be on par with the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which has assets of $108 billion (as of 2022).
Buffett's three children, Susan, Howard, and Peter, all expressed their outlook for the future during interviews. Susan stated that they have not yet discussed a specific plan, but it may continue what they have been doing. Howard emphasized that they may face a considerable workload. Peter mentioned that the final decision may be influenced by multiple factors.
Currently, Buffett holds nearly $130 billion in stocks of Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway announced that Buffett will convert his 8674 Class A shares into approximately 13.01 million Class B shares, which will be donated to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Sherwood Foundation, Howard Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation. Based on the current stock price of Berkshire's B-class stocks, the donation amount will exceed $5.3 billion, making it his largest annual donation since starting in 2006.
Buffett also set specific donation methods. Buffett promised to donate 10 million B-class stocks to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Donate 1 million B-class stocks to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation; Donate 350000 B-class stocks to the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Susan A. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation, respectively. Every July, 5% of the designated share balance will be directly donated to these charitable intermediaries.
If calculated based on the latest closing price of $407.95 for Berkshire Hathaway B-Class stocks, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will receive approximately $4.051 billion worth of B-Class stocks, while the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation will receive approximately $405 million worth of B-Class stocks. Buffett's daughter and son's foundations each received stocks worth over $284 million. The total value of the above-mentioned stocks is approximately 5.308 billion US dollars.
In 2010, Bill Gates and his wife jointly launched the "Giving Pledge" program with Buffett, aiming to encourage the world's wealthiest people to join the ranks of charitable donations and use the vast majority of their wealth for charitable causes.
On November 21, 2023, Buffett donated 1.5 million B-class shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. In addition, 300000 shares of Class B stocks were donated to the Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation, which were run by his children. The total value of the above-mentioned stocks was approximately 866 million US dollars at that time.
Buffett said, "I believe Berkshire is an ideal asset to support the long-term well-being of foundations. The company has a diverse and strong source of profit, financial strength, and a deeply rooted culture of acting in the best interests of shareholders. Excellent managers can take over from me. I predict that as Berkshire makes new acquisitions and expands its existing business, it will become even stronger."
Buffett has publicly promised to donate 99% of his personal wealth to charitable organizations during his lifetime or death, and has been fulfilling this promise. Since 2006, he has donated half of his Berkshire equity, mainly to the Gates Foundation and four foundations related to the Buffett family.
The latest financial report shows that as of the end of March this year, Berkshire Hathaway holds stocks worth over $336 billion, with Apple accounting for over 40% of the holdings. According to Forbes' latest Rich List, Buffett is currently ranked sixth in the world with a wealth of $133 billion.