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Warren Buffett donates $37 billion to charity
"We are awed by our friend Warren Buffett's decision to use his fortune to address the world's most challenging inequities, and we are humbled that he has chosen to direct a large portion of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."
- Bill and Melinda Gates
Omaha, NE - In what is believed to be the largest charitable gift made in the United States, the world's second richest man Warren Buffet plans to donate the bulk of his $44-billion (Rs 202,840 crore) fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. plans to give away 85 per cent of his fortune, or about $37.4 billion (Rs 172,414 crore), all in Berkshire stock. Of that amount, he will channel the greatest share, about $31 billion (Rs 142,910 crore), into the Gates Foundation.
Mr. Buffett's decision to start giving his fortune to charity while he is still alive, instead of after he dies, was driven by the death of his wife, Susan, in 2004, and the greater scale and ability of the Gates foundation to put his wealth to charitable use sooner than the smaller Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, set up by him and his wife.