Buffett donates US$866 million worth of stock, says Berkshire has the ‘right CEO’ to succeed him

BILLIONAIRE investor Warren Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway has the “right CEO” to succeed him and the “right board of directors”, the company disclosed in a letter from him on Tuesday (Nov 21) which disclosed that he had donated about US$866 million of Berkshire stock to four family charities.

Buffett said, “At 93, I feel good but fully realise I am playing in extra innings.” He told shareholders that he “(feels) good” as he moves nearer the sunset of his storied investing career.

Buffett has many times said that vice-chairperson Greg Abel would succeed him as CEO.

The world’s fifth-richest person is gradually giving away nearly all of the fortune that he has built at Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, which he has run since 1965.

He has since 2006 donated close to US$52 billion of Berkshire stock to the family charities and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has received more than US$39 billion of stock overall.

In a regulatory filing, Berkshire said Buffett donated 1.5 million Class B shares of Berkshire to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his late first wife.

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Buffett also donated 900,000 additional Class B shares, divided evenly among charities run by his children Howard, Susan and Peter: the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation and the NoVo Foundation, respectively.

He said that the latest donations supplement the US$759 million of Berkshire stock that he donated at this time last year, also just before the US holiday of Thanksgiving. REUTERS