Billionaire Buffett to Disburse Fortune

[spindrifter]

Monday 26 June 2006, 1:51 Makka Time, 22:51 GMT

Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man, has announced plans to allocate the bulk of his roughly $42 billion fortune to five foundations in annual gifts of stock starting next month.

<snip>

Moreover, his vast holdings of Berkshire Hathaway Inc stock had been expected to go largely to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, begun by his late wife.

Her foundation has given millions of dollars to hospitals, universities and teachers, as well as to Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups.

<snip>

Instead the 75-year-old chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway plans to give the largest contribution to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, established by Buffett's friend and Berkshire board member Bill Gates.

<snip>

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2A472FEE-2FBF-41E7-8EA2-DB7469609C63.htm

++++++

Guess there will be a little bit available for abortion rights.

[napi21]

1. I just read that on MSNBC. I suspect he's a Dem because of giving all

that money to Planned Parenthood orgs, and hospitals. Isn't it interesting that the very wealthy Dems give their fortunes to humane causes, and the wealthy Pubs keep it all for themselves and their family????

[spindrifter]

2. It's his former wife who was

interested in liberal causes. I don't know about Buffett. I do know that Gates is not a political liberal, however. Buffett doesn't believe in giving money to his kids--neither, apparently does Gates. So, it appears they have quite a few commonalities.

[bunyip]

3. Buffett is a genuine left-wing rat-bag

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

He lives in a modest house and donates his spare cash to helping the less fortunate. Buffett (and George Soros) really confuse the Right.

Bill Gates OTOH never believed in anything except Bill Gates. He made some mutually advantageous business deals with fascism, but now he has an old-money trophy-wife who believes in noblesse oblige. He's trying to buy respect from her class by becoming a philanthropist.

[spindrifter]

4. He was very late to

the philanthropist table. That kind of says it all.

[fishwax]

7. I hardly think that says it all

He has been consistently supportive of democrats and has pointed out that the rich in this country have waged class warfare on the poor.

You said earlier that he doesn't believe in giving money to his kids, but his actual philosophy is that rich parents should give their kids "enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing."

As to being late to the philanthropist table, he has received criticism in the past for not giving more to philanthropy, but it has been his stated intention for decades that he and his wife would give the vast bulk of their wealth to philanthropic causes. And he has contributed to various causes as well as democratic candidates. But generally, in keeping with his devotion to long-term strategy, his intention was to build up wealth over the long term so that it could be distributed over the long term. The fact that most of his wealth is in the form of stock (specifically shares of Berkshire-Hathaway) makes this strategy sensible, and the distribution of those shares to private foundations is going to a great deal of good in the years to come.

[spindrifter]

10. I was talking about Gates being late.

[fishwax]

12. okay, gotcha :)

On Gates, I won't disagree ...

[mduffy31]

15. Who gives a shit?

He is now trying to make a difference with his money. There is no one else trying to solve the problems that he is donating money to. So what if he came late to the table, at least he is there at all now.

[fishwax]

14. interestingly, gates credits buffett with inspiring his own philanthropy

from what i understand, they met in '91, and gates was impressed with buffett's commitment to justice and the proper use of wealth. He credits buffett with inspiring him to start the Gates Foundation.

[blm]

13. Gates Sr. is a liberal, and so is Melinda Gates. It's Bill Jr. who only

cares about business politics.

But, it's Gates SENIOR who runs the Gates Foundation. ;)))))

[mdmc]

5. I always thought that this guy was some sort of a singer

How did he make all this cash?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. The singer is Jimmy Buffett. The rich guy is Warren Buffett

[mdmc]

17. how did he make all this cash?

:shrug:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. Smart investments, mainly.

Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

[akushuki]

6. Nice guy...

Giving back to the country and people that made him a success. Not sure what someone could do with 40,000,000,000 dollars anyway, but its nice to see he isn't just keeping it in the bank.

[fishwax]

8. welcome to DU!

That's a lot of zeros!

:hi:

[akushuki]

9. Thanks,

Unfortunately it isn't NEARLY as many zeros as our national debt.

I'm not even sure what 8 trillion looks like in zeros.

[Canuckistanian]

16. NYT story just came out

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/business/26buffett.html?hp&ex=1151294400&en=11261864a8d424a2&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Buffett to Give Bulk of Fortune to Gates Charity

By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN and STEPHANIE SAUL
Published: June 26, 2006

Warren E. Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and one of the world's wealthiest men, plans to donate the bulk of his $44 billion fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four other philanthropies starting in July.

The donations, outlined in a series of letters that Mr. Buffett released yesterday and will execute today, represent a singular and historic act of charitable giving that vaults him into the top tier of industrialists and entrepreneurs like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller Sr., Henry Ford, J. Paul Getty, W. K. Kellogg and Mr. Gates himself, all men whose fortunes have endowed some of the world's richest private foundations.

Mr. Buffett plans to give away 85 percent of his fortune, or about $37.4 billion, all in Berkshire stock. Of that amount, he will channel the greatest share, about $31 billion, into the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation, dedicated to improving health and education, especially in poor nations, is already the United States' largest grant-making foundation, with current assets of almost $30 billion. Mr. Buffett's huge contribution may permanently solidify that philanthropy's standing as the biggest and most influential organization of its kind. Mr. Buffett will join Mr. and Mrs. Gates as a trustee of their foundation.