In another example of walking the talk, Warren Buffett demonstrates his big heart by donating billions to charity. He plans to give out more than 10 million of his company shares to the Gates Foundation.
Are we blessed with two of the world's most philanthropic individuals at the same time?
Following close friend Bill Gates (or in many ways leading him) into the pearly arches of altruism, billionaire
Warren Buffett has given away
512,169 Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (the company he owns). Three charitable organizations benefited from his generosity. Each share's value stands at $3,999, so that's a cool
$2.05 billion in total.
Most of the shares went into the charity pot of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His charity 'deposits' seem to be going according to plan as in 2006 he had announced that he would be donating most of his wealth to social causes. He plans to give out over 10 million of his shares to the Gates Foundation over the coming years.
This is with the pledge he had made to fund the Gates Foundation's work in fighting infectious diseases and reforming education. T
The remaining 1 million B shares were for the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation named in honor of his first wife, and 350,000 shares for each of the three foundations run by his three children. Those foundations support environmental causes, abortion rights, helping low-income children and human rights.
Berkshire Inc, based in Omaha, Nebraska has share ownership in variety of companies including big names like Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo, the diversified financial services company.
Called the 'Oracle of Omaha' surely the combined wealth of this modern day Robin Hood can make a small dent in the problems of illiteracy and disease plaguing the world.
