05/05/2018. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo
Billionaire Warren Buffett, legendary investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has made new preparations to donate his fortune after his death.
At age 94, he plans to donate 99.5% of his remaining wealth, valued on Friday (22) at US$149.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine, to a charity overseen by his daughter and two sons when he dies .
In a letter to Berkshire shareholders on Monday, Buffett said three potential successor trustees have been designated if his daughter Susie, 71, and sons Howard, 69, and Peter, 66, are unable to serve.
He said each successor trustee is a little younger than his children, is well known to them and whose appointments “make sense” to everyone.
“I never wanted to create a dynasty or pursue any plan that extended beyond children,” Buffett wrote. “But these successors are on the waiting list. I hope that Susie, Howie and Peter themselves will distribute all my assets.”
Buffett also said he will donate about $1.14 billion in additional Berkshire shares to four family foundations.
READ MORE: Buffett has never given up so many shares. What does he know that we don’t?
That brings his giving to more than $58 billion since 2006, when he pledged to donate most of his fortune to family foundations and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which received more than $43 billion. He donated 56.6% of his Berkshire shares.
Buffett has led Berkshire, based in Omaha, Nebraska, since 1965. He still owns 14.4% of the shares and plans to continue donating shares to these five foundations throughout his life.
After your death, your children will have approximately ten years to donate the remaining wealth and must unanimously decide what their philanthropic purposes will be.
Berkshire did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
