Warren Buffett gives away his fortune

[REWahoo]

The world's second richest man - who's now worth $44 billion - tells [Fortune] editor-at-large Carol Loomis he will start giving away 85% of his wealth in July - most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/25/maga...ex.htm?cnn=yes

[lazygood4nothinbum]

http://www.myinheritor.com/

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum http://www.myinheritor.com/

LG4NBum, until now I thought nothing could lure me back to work. Wonder if they're hiring?

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo! LG4NBum, until now I thought nothing could lure me back to work.* Wonder if they're hiring?

funny. actually i came across that ad looking at travel stuff yesterday. my first thought was, ok, i've been on www for so long that i've finally found the most pathetic page in history and so i was about to post a separate topic on pathetic web pages.

then i saw your wonderful post on buffett and i thought, man, if this doesn't highlight duality. the guy with a name who wants to give and the guy without even a face who just wants to take.

what a world.

[Nords]

Here's the letters.

Funny coincidence, Bill Gates joins the Berkshire Hathaway board and his charitable foundation earns 10,000,000 "B" shares for the effort. Good thing he & Warren play bridge so well together!

I think this is a great way for Buffett to smooth out the volatility that will inevitably come when he dies or resigns. Over the next decade or so he'll be able to point out that charities hold the majority of BRK shares and there won't be a market fear of his estate dumping them all at once.

Hmmm. Anyone seen Buffett make any public appearances since the shareholders' meeting?

It'll be interesting to see what this does to the share price tomorrow. (*Click*) Buckle up, folks...

[brewer12345]

Good for Warren. His wife passed away a couple of years ago, and I suspect it caused him to think more carefully about what he was going to do with all the money.

[lswswein]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Here's the letters. Hmmm.* Anyone seen Buffett make any public appearances since the shareholders' meeting?* It'll be interesting to see what this does to the share price tomorrow.* (*Click*)* Buckle up, folks...

Nords, he will be on Charlie Rose monday night along with Gates. Check your local PBS listing.

-h

[laurence]

When I daydream about being rich, I imagine creating a foundation and doing great work. My buddies often say, "yeah, right! You say that now, but money changes people!". It's neat to see some people can still be idealists despite the corrupting power of money.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

When you have so much of it that you could never spend it all, even if you built a 10,000 home subdivision and insulated the homes with shredded ten dollar bills, maybe you get past that whole corruption thing...

I've been around Bill Gates a good number of times. Idealist philanthropist isnt really the term I'd use to describe him.

[laurence]

Are you saying we could zing each other by saying, "Avocado, you idealist philanthropist!" :

[mickeyd]

Seems to me like Mr. B is getting rid of his hobby prior to entering the permanent subteranian housing area. Good for him! I will now feel less guilty about not being able, or desiring, to contribute to all of the many worthy causes that I am given the opportunity to participate it.

I will just say, "Mr. Buffet already contributed to your organization on my behalf."

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cute n Fuzzy Bunnay I've been around Bill Gates a good number of times.* Idealist philanthropist isnt really the term I'd use to describe him.

You've probably changed since your last meeting with him. It's possible that he's changed too.

I'm not sure that any of those changes would include the word "matured", since I'm not too familiar with that word myself, but it's possible that he's moved on to a new challenge. He's probably decided that he can give away money so fast that even Buffett can't choke the pipeline!

The timing is interesting:
- Gates joins Buffett's board and presumably voices an opinion or two.
- Buffett notes that BRK investors are still concerned about succession and starts discussing it in a more public & reassuring manner. Presumably he discusses some of these thoughts with Gates.
- Gates announces his Microsoft retirement.
- Buffett pledges Gates' foundation 10M shares valued at about $3000 each-- $30B or about 70% of his net worth-- and says Gates has to ramp up his foundation's spending accordingly.

Of course the shares are down 2% this morning on double the sell volume, but they're still within the trading range they've stalled out at over the last few months.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Certainly age, marriage and kids may have calmed him a bit. Suffice it to say that IMO, Gates turning into a loving philanthropist is akin to Patton taking up basket weaving. I guess its possible, but...

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cute n Fuzzy Bunnay Certainly age, marriage and kids may have calmed him a bit.* Suffice it to say that IMO, Gates turning into a loving philanthropist is akin to Patton taking up basket weaving.* I guess its possible, but...

Maybe Gates & Ballmer are studying ways for him to become the best @#%ing philanthropist on the planet, on a scale so huge and unprecedented that he can bury those g%$$^&ned wimps Ellison, McNealy, & Turner...

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh yeah, the "other half of the equation"...Ballmers like a big goofy frat boy salesman. I cant ever in a million, gazillion years imagine him running a business of any size. If they dont push him out the door or slide him into some fairly innocuous board position after gates leaves, I'd dump my microsoft stock.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cute n Fuzzy Bunnay ... I'd dump my microsoft stock...

Many times I've read Microsoft's history in an attempt to figure out when I should've bought the stock. Presumably the company would have displayed some sort of fundamentals that would make an investor go "Oooh!" and buy the shares in a reasonable expectation that they'd go up some more. Then I could apply my insights to a company going public in this millenium.

The problem is that every time Gates, Allen, Ballmer, or the rest of them opened their mouths, I'd run away screaming. This was when I was getting a graduate degree that was heavy in computer science, so we were pretty familiar with the industry's companies & names. (Anyone ever tried to use Windows 1.0 or 2.0?) Alongside Sun & Silicon Graphics, with all the other great OSs & Apple products, Microsoft was going to be plowed under any day. Heck, most of MS's revenue depended on IBM, which had just decided to write their own O/S2 software!

To be fair, I've felt the same way about McDonald's & Coca-Cola stock. And I spent way too much time dealing with Cisco routers in 1995 to be a fan of that company.

My FIL was working CBS's Washington bureau Sunday morning TV news show (I think it was "Face the Nation") one day in '87 or '88 when Gates showed up for an interview. Gates jumped out of a cab at the door, went inside, and was escorted to the studio. No one recognized him, cared who he was, or gave a damn about what he did. My FIL says that one of the technicians kept jabbering excitedly about "the guy who invented DOS" and what a great stock Microsoft was. This tech had already thoroughly annoyed the crew about some guy named Jobs, so by this point the rest of the technicians were ready to duct-tape his mouth closed to get through the morning.

And of course Microsoft stock went up about 50% over that two year-period...

The difference between Gates (and his ilk) and Buffett is that Buffett's conversations draw a crowd where ever he sits. A common theme among Buffett's biographers is people who say that he mesmerized the audience wherever he spoke in the '50s & '60s, and he's just gotten better with practice.

That's who I want to find-- the next compelling financial investor like Buffett. Unlike the 1950s, today I guess it'd have to be someone at a hedge fund or even a mutual fund. But I think I'm going to pass on Bill Gates, Bill Gross, & Bill Miller.

[kz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurence When I daydream about being rich, I imagine creating a foundation and doing great work.* My buddies often say, "yeah, right! You say that now, but money changes people!".* It's neat to see some people can still be idealists despite the corrupting power of money.*

I couldn't agree with you more!!! The only reason I have ever played the lottery (and it hasn't been often) is to, upon winning, start a foundation and give the money away. I realize most people don't believe it but I've never cared. The happiest moments in my life center around giving money away.

After watching the press conference with the Gates' and Buffett I'm even more impressed with them. I also realized that Gates married "smart". She is intelligent, articulate, and the driving force behind the philanthropy! He married very smart.

[MJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum the guy with a name who wants to give and the guy without even a face who just wants to take.

Hey don't knock it, taking has been an honored profession since time began.
In fact isn't it the big takers that eventually become (out of guilt?) to big givers, Carnegie, Rockfeller, Gates.

[MJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurence When I daydream about being rich, I imagine creating a foundation and doing great work. My buddies often say, "yeah, right! You say that now, but money changes people!". It's neat to see some people can still be idealists despite the corrupting power of money.

I can only dream assume that it is easier to re-establish or maintain your idealism when you have a few billion to support it. He's still keeping a meager 15%, let's see about 15% * 45 billion = $$$$$$$$$$

[MJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kz I couldn't agree with you more!!! The only reason I have ever played the lottery (and it hasn't been often) is to, upon winning, start a foundation and give the money away. I realize most people don't believe it but I've never cared. The happiest moments in my life center around giving money away.

Until recently, I would play the lottery when it passed 60mil. I would pray and make pact with the almighty universe that a set percentage would go to my charity foundation that I would start and as the pot got bigger, I would raise the %. At one point I had the split upto 50%. No one was listening and I never won.