Buffett donates nearly $2.9 billion to Gates, family charities

The big victor is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which received 14,968,423 shares worth an approximate $2.2 billion as of Wednesday’s close.

On Thursday, a SEC document filed showed that Buffett donated about19.6 million class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway to five charities valuing $145.93 a share, as per Wednesday’s close. He made a pledge in 2006 to hand over a total that equates to 500 million shares, and each year he gives 5% of the remaining total. His donation past year was $2.8 billion, reports CNNMoney. The annual sums have often climbed because of gains in the share price. The bulk of the money, $2.2 billion, will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest foundation in the world, champions causes like ending world poverty, improving USA schools and combating infectious diseases like HIV, polio and malaria. MSFT, +0.43% co-founder and Buffett’s friend Bill Gates and his wife, according to a regulatory filing.

Charity foundations of the billionaire’s three children also 1.05 million shares each.

The Sherwood Foundation, headed by Buffett’s daughter, Susan, supports many groups, especially in the Omaha area, that work in education, helping at-risk girls and early childhood education.

The contributions by Buffett, 85, leave him with about 18 percent of Berkshire’s value, worth about $64.5 billion, and about 32 percent of its shareholder votes. The NoVo Foundation, headed by son Peter and his wife, Jennifer, works with women’s and girls’ rights advocates.