Warren Buffett Lines Up Successors To Potentially Help Donate $150 Billion Fortune

Warren Buffett on Monday announced he had identified a second generation of successors to carry out his pledge to donate nearly all of his vast fortune.

Buffett said in a letter to shareholders that he had given his children the “full responsibility for gradually distributing all of my Berkshire holdings.” He acknowledged, however, the difficulty the three of them—aged 66, 69, and 71—may have in distributing a fortune larger than most economies in their remaining lifetimes.

“As such, three potential successor trustees have been designated,” wrote Buffett, who did not name the successors but noted they are “somewhat younger” than his children and “well known” by them. 

“But these successors are on the wait list. I hope Susie, Howie and Peter themselves disburse all of my assets,” the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A; BRK.B) CEO added.

Buffett Donating $1B to Family Foundations

Buffett’s revelation came alongside the announcement that he was donating more than $1 billion to his family’s charitable foundations as part of the 94-year-old’s longstanding pledge to give away most of his wealth within his lifetime or shortly after his death.

Buffett on Monday said he was converting 1,600 Class A shares of Berkshire Hathaway to 2.4 million Class B shares, valued at more than $1.14 billion as of Friday’s close. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for Buffett’s first wife who died in 2004, will receive 1.5 million shares. The foundations of his three children will each receive 300,000 shares. 

How Buffett’s Giving Plans Have Changed

Buffett first pledged in 2006 to give away 85% of his Berkshire stock. The vast majority was earmarked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the rest was to be divvied up between the Buffett family’s four foundations. Buffett upped his pledge to 99% in 2010 when he and the Gateses launched the Giving Pledge, an initiative that encourages America’s wealthy to commit more than 50% of their wealth to philanthropic initiatives in their lifetimes or their wills.

The recipients of his pledge changed earlier this year when Buffett revealed he would stop donating to the Gates Foundation and instead entrust his entire fortune to his children under a plan that requires unanimity on all charitable distributions.

Buffett in Monday’s letter explained the decision to redirect his donations, explaining his children “were not ready to handle the staggering wealth that Berkshire shares had generated” when he first made his pledge. “The 2006-2024 period gave me the chance to observe each of my children in action and they have learned much about large-scale philanthropy and human behavior,” he said.

Buffett has given away more than half of his Berkshire stock since 2006. Still, the conglomerate’s stock price has increased by eight times in the last two decades, boosting the legendary investor’s wealth to an estimated $150 billion. Buffett on Monday said the Berkshire stake he’s tasked his children with selling in its entirety accounts for 99.5% of his fortune.