Warren Buffett donates Thanksgiving millions, praises USA

Warren Buffett has given family-linked nonprofit organizations a total of 2.4 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares.

The “Oracle of Omaha” delivered them Tuesday to The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, The Sherwood Foundation, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation, Berkshire Hathaway disclosed in a press release. They were collectively worth roughly $870 million.

He made the donations after doing a conversion of 1,600 Class A shares.

The gifted shares “supplement certain of the lifetime pledges I made in 2006 and that continue until my death (at 93, I feel good but fully realize I am playing in extra innings),” Buffett said in an accompanying statement. He took similar Thanksgiving action a year ago.

The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation got more than half — 1.5 million of the 2.4 million shares, according to Berkshire Hathaway. The other three received respective gifts of 300,000.

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Buffett giving the family foundations those shares came roughly five months after the 93-year-old Berkshire Hathaway CEO previously sent over 3.2 million Class B stock to the four nonprofits and 10.45 million to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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He said his three adult children have been tasked with being the “executors of my current will as well as the named trustees of the charitable trust that will receive 99%-plus of my wealth pursuant to the provisions of the will,” according to the release.

Buffett held a personal fortune of $120.6 billion as of Wednesday afternoon, Forbes estimated.

The billionaire, who celebrated his most recent birthday in August, later praised America in his statement to shareholders.

“My children, along with their father, have a common belief that dynastic wealth, though both legal and common in much of the world including the United States, is not desirable. Moreover, we have had many opportunities to observe that being rich does not make you either wise or evil. We also agree that capitalism – whatever its weaknesses, including the vast disparities in wealth and political influence that it delivers somewhat capriciously to its citizens – has worked wonders and continues to work wonders. The United States is exhibit A for that belief, and the four of us feel lucky that we beat very long odds when we were born in the U.S.,” Buffett said.

He also expressed confidence in Greg Abel, who has been tapped to take over as CEO after him, and the Berkshire Hathaway board, at one point describing the conglomerate as “built to last.” Buffett has run the company for decades.

Another billionaire — Jeff Bezos — also engaged in some philanthropic activity this week.

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The Amazon founder announced Tuesday his Bezos Day 1 Families Fund would disburse $117.55 million worth of grants to 38 organizations involved in alleviating homelessness. That fund has sent some $691.1 million through over 200 grants in six years, according to the Bezos Day One Fund.