Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial) CEO Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) announced this week he donated approximately $2.9 billion in his conglomerate’s common stock to five charities, including the foundation established by Bill Gates (Trades, Portfolio).
According to GuruFocus Real-Time Picks, a Premium feature, the transaction reduced Buffett’s holding in Berkshire Class A stock to 248,734 shares.
Transaction details
The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate announced in a press release that Berkshire contributed 15,971,345 Class B shares to five foundations: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, The Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation.
Buffett initiated the annual charity donations in June 2006, increasing the donations starting in August 2012. For each donation, the Oracle of Omaha converts a significant amount of Berkshire Class A shares into Class B shares. The donations during the 15-year program have reduced Buffett’s holding of Class A shares from 474,998 to 248,734.
See also
Buffett and co-Berkshire manager Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio) developed a four-criterion investing approach to finding good companies at fair prices: understandable business, favorable long-term prospects, competent management and attractive prices. Specifically, companies should have high business predictability, strong profit margins, no meaningful long-term debt and low price-earnings-to-growth ratios.
Disclosure: No positions.
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