In recent days, some of the world's wealthiest people have announced plans to give away billions of dollars from their fortunes.
Warren Buffett said Monday that he plans to donate $3.6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock to five charities -- one of his largest gifts ever -- while Walmart Inc. heir Jim Walton gave away $1.2 billion of the retailer's shares last week. And Home Depot Inc. co-founder Bernie Marcus said he's planning to give away almost his entire $4.5 billion fortune before he dies.
The donations are occurring debate simmers over how the richest Americans could use their money to help address income inequality and other economic imbalances. Last week, a group including investor George Soros and Facebook Inc. co-founder Chris Hughes called for a wealth tax to help provide funds for fighting climate change and for public-health initiatives. Others, such as Buffett, have argued that they prefer to have entities such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation oversee the charitable work.
Buffett's gift raises the total amount of stock he's donated to foundations to about $34 billion since making a pledge in 2006 to give away all of his fortune, according to a statement Monday. The recipients include the Gates Foundation, as well as charities named for his late wife and ones run by his children.
The recipient of Walton's gift wasn't disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday, but family members have regularly donated to the Walton Family Foundation, whose causes include education and the environment. The foundation awarded more than $595 million in grants in 2018, according to its website, and had assets of $4.9 billion at the end of 2017.
A spokesman for the family didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Buffett has spent more than five decades building Berkshire Hathaway into a company with a market value of more than half a trillion dollars, spanning industries including insurance and manufacturing. Its success once made him the world's richest man, though he has fallen back to fourth place as he steadily gives his fortune away.
The original 2006 plan was later modified, and it now envisages posthumously donating all of the Berkshire stock within a decade after his estate is settled.
The billionaire investor has long supported the Gateses' charitable endeavors, and he said in 2006 that he aimed for the stock donations to ramp up their foundation's "already impressive effectiveness" in addressing societal problems. Buffett is also giving stock to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation.
Jim Walton's donation cut his net worth to about $50 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His older brother, Rob Walton, also donated 135,000 Walmart shares -- worth $15 million -- according to a separate filing last week.
Business on 07/03/2019