Buffet gives away fortune to Gates Foundation
Buffett has pledged to gradually give 85% of his Berkshire stock to five foundations. A dominant five-sixths of the shares will go to the world's largest philanthropic organization, the $30 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Yes, that Warren Buffet – the world’s second richest man. The market value of that 85% is about $37 billion! Fortune Magazine has the story and interview, also see the NYTimes. An announcement that will have repercussion far beyond just development finance. I didn’t see this coming, at least not for a few more years. Let’s see how the markets react.
Of course, this come just a week after Bill Gates, a close friend of Buffet, made his announcement that in two years he will shift his attention to his Foundation full-time.
Update: Here is a press conference. The NYTimes also has two good stories. Also see the Charlie Rose Show, during which Buffet says: "A market system has not worked in terms of poor people". And it seems that this is the report that Buffet gave to Gates back in the 1990s that planted the seed that would become the Gates Foundation.
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Hey Pablo,
I was thinking that maybe Buffett was trying to one up Gates with this one and force him to donate even more of his own money to the foundation. What do you think?
Ethan
Posted by: Ethan Arpi | Jun 26, 2006 4:34:42 PM
I'm not sure? They might be too good of friends for that. Hasn't Gates said that he would give away all his money too?
I've actually been a fan of Buffet's shareholder letters for a while - and for sometime he has said that he would be donating most of his wealth away. He has also spoken out recently on global health initiatives. Initially he had said he would allocate it in his will, but that was assuming his wife would out-live him and manage his trust. When she passed away, he rethought the strategy. Initially his reason for waiting until death was that his contribution would be maximized if he put all his efforts into making money, not giving it away. Now he has essentially outsourced his philanthropic efforts to Gates.
Here's another theory: this was the result of poker hand. Gates and Buffet are know to be good friends - picture them playing some high-stakes poker with some billionaire friends in Jackson Hole, Davos or Aspen and the last hand of the night getting a little out of control. I wonder what Gates would have had to have done if had lost? (Or perhaps he lost an earlier hand, hence the step-down from Microsoft?)
Posted by: Pablo Halkyard | Jun 27, 2006 12:18:02 AM
Ok, so maybe it was bridge, not poker.
http://www.onlinepoker-news.com/20051220/bill_gates_and_warren_buffet_investing_1_million_to_have_bridge_give_poker_a_bad_eef.aspx
Posted by: Pablo Halkyard | Jun 27, 2006 10:36:13 AM