Warren Buffett announces his withdrawal from the Board of Directors of the Gates Foundation
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Warren Buffett announced on Wednesday that he will donate $4.1 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to five foundations – and he will resign as trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. One of the largest charities in the worldThe CEO of Berkshire Hathaway announced the news. He shared the latest news about his charitable donations and defended the speed at which he donated huge amounts of wealth. Buffett, 90, said that he has achieved his goal of giving up almost all of his net assets.
Buffett did not specify why he resigned from the Gates Foundation, which has been the main beneficiary of his donations for more than a decade. The billionaire pointed out in the letter that his goals are “100% in sync” with the foundation, he has been an “inactive trustee”, and he has been removed from “all other companies except Berkshire Hathaway”. The board of directors resigned.
Buffett’s announcement was made less than two months after Bill and Melinda Gates Announce divorce Same as Bill Gates Faced with ongoing scrutiny Past workplace behaviors and extramarital affairs. However, the focus of Buffett’s letter seems to be discussing how he handles philanthropy at a time when wealth inequality and the power of billionaires are under intense criticism. Buffett usually defends his wealth accumulation and seems to think that the benefits of compound interest justify his method of gradually selling stocks.
At the same time, the $4.1 billion donation is not surprising.The business giant has been talking about donating most of his wealth since at least 2006, when he announced that he would Donated most of his wealth to the Gates FoundationSince then, he regularly donated Berkshire Hathaway’s shares to the foundation, and in 2010, he established a donation pledge in cooperation with the Gates couple. Public contract Among the super-rich, donate at least half of their wealth to charity. Many billionaires, including MacKenzie Scott and Mark Zuckerberg, Since signingNow that 15 years have passed since he initially announced donations to the Gates Foundation, Buffett recognizes that philanthropy is complicated.
“The easiest act in the world is to give money that will never have any practical use for you or your family. Giving is painless and will most likely allow you and your children to live a better life,” Buffett said. The letter reads. “The second step of making huge payments is more challenging, especially when the goal is to focus on key issues that have been difficult to overcome or even difficult to solve for a long time.”
But Buffett donated his money more slowly than some other billionaires.Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife Scott announced earlier this month that she is Donated a fortune of US$2.7 billion To various reasons.Overall, she donated US$8.5 billion in the past year; at the end of 2020, she gave up $1 billion per monthScott is also different from other super-rich people in donating her money directly to the organization instead of through the foundation. She also criticized the economy that gave her wealth, which she called a “system that needs to change.”
This is very different from Buffett’s tone, he pointed out on Wednesday that he made a fortune by doing what he likes.
He wrote: “Compound interest, long runways, excellent colleagues and our incredible country have just worked their magic.”
It’s worth noting that many billionaires, including Bezos And Lauren Powell Jobs, not yet sign The Giving Pledge and others have been slow to come up with a clear and thoughtful strategy For their charity. Billionaires are also increasingly unpopular. The Vox and Data for Progress polls earlier this year found that the American public was skeptical of the idea of billionaires as role models and frustrated with their wealth growth in the United States. Pandemic. New report on how the rich avoid Federal income tax Make these characters more lack of sympathy.
All this means that the importance and motivation behind billionaire philanthropy will only grow. Billionaires are becoming more and more powerful, which makes charities more dependent on their funds, and their critics are more disturbed to control the power of the super-rich. The growing disappointment with the rich and how they use their money is in stark contrast to what Buffett said, who seemed content when he quit the role.
“I am optimistic,” Buffett finally wrote. “Although opponents abound—as they were in my life—the best days in the United States are definitely still to come. What has happened here since 1776 is not a fluke in history.”
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