Melinda French Gates says Warren Buffett's latest will 'did not surprise me'
Melinda French Gates recently said Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett’s latest plan for what will happen to his massive fortune after his death did not come as a shock to her.
She said in a new The New York Times interview it "did not surprise me" when Buffett revealed the vast majority of his wealth will now transfer into a charitable trust that his three adult children will be tasked with operating when he passes away.
The longtime CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, whose estimated net worth hovered around $138.3 billion as of Monday afternoon, has offered insight into some of the provisions of his current will in recent press releases from the conglomerate and a late June interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Buffett told The Journal the Gates Foundation, which French Gates formed in 2000 with her then-husband Bill Gates, has "no money coming after my death." The same day that interview was published, the 93-year-old "Oracle of Omaha" also said in a Berkshire press release that the "lifetime commitments" he has made to donate to four family-linked charitable organizations and to the Gates Foundation "expire upon my death or at an earlier time if certain conditions … occur."
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His three children will be tasked with deciding as a group how to dole out Buffett’s fortune, per The Journal.
"It’s been a decision that I think he’s been coming to over time, and I was aware that he was making this decision," French Gates said to The New York Times of Buffett’s plan for the trust. "The other thing that’s really important to say is he has given an enormous sum through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. So I think this has just been a good evolution to his thinking on how he wants to do his giving."
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Buffett most recently gifted the Gates Foundation over 9.93 million class "B" shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock in June. The foundation, which French Gates has left to pursue her own philanthropic efforts, has received some $43 billion from him over the years, according to a tweet from its CEO, Mark Suzman.
That June contribution to the Gates Foundation coincided with a donation of roughly 993,000 shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and gifts of over 695,100 shares each to the Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation.
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Buffett had a Berkshire stake of 207,963 Class "A" shares and 2,586 Class "B" shares post-donation. The latter type of Berkshire stock has posted an over 24% jump in the past 12 months.
Meanwhile, French Gates, a billionaire herself with an estimated net worth of $11 billion according to Forbes, has so far promised $2 billion to "expand women’s power and influence" through her Pivotal Ventures.