Nov. 10 (UPI) — Warren Buffett told Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, in a Thanksgiving letter Monday ahead of his retirement, that he plans to “step up” charitable giving from his $150 billion estate.
Buffett, 95, said he wants to accelerate the disbursement of his Berkshire stock to his children’s foundations to ensure they can “dispose of what will essentially be my entire estate before alternate trustees replace them.”
“My children are now at their prime in respect to experience and wisdom, but have yet to enter old age,” Buffett said. “That ‘honeymoon’ period will not last forever.”
While Buffett plans to continue writing his Thanksgiving letter every year, he told shareholders that he would no longer write Berkshire’s annual report or take questions at its annual meeting.
During a shareholders’ meeting in May, Buffett announced that he would retire as Berkshire’s chief executive officer at the end of this year. Berkshire Hathaway Energy Chair Greg Abel, 63, was named as his replacement.
“I can’t think of a CEO, a management consultant, an academic, a member of government — you name it — that I would select over Greg to handle your savings and mine,” Buffett wrote Monday, adding that he plans to hold a large number of shares temporarily until shareholders gain confidence in Abel.
“I would like to keep a significant amount of ‘A’ shares until Berkshire shareholders develop the comfort with Greg that Charlie and I long enjoyed,” Buffett said. Charlie Munger was Buffett’s Berkshire vice chairman. He died two years ago.
“That level of confidence shouldn’t take long,” Buffett added. “My children are already 100% behind Greg, as are the Berkshire directors.”
On Monday, Buffett donated $1.3 billion to four family foundations, to include The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, The Sherwood Foundation, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.
Buffett reassured shareholders that the “acceleration of my lifetime gifts to my children’s foundations in no way reflects any change in my views about Berkshire’s prospects.”
“Berkshire has less chance of a devastating disaster than any business I know,” he added.
In Monday’s letter, Buffett also provided an update on his health, saying he feels good and continues to work at Berkshire’s headquarters five days a week.
“To my surprise, I generally feel good. Though I move slowly and read with increasing difficulty. I was late in becoming old,” Buffett said as he heads into retirement. “As the British would say, I’m ‘going quiet’ … sort of.”