Warren Buffett resigned as a trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
On Wednesday, Warren Buffett resigned as a trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as he donated another USD 4.1 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock for philanthropy.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was one of the largest private charitable organizations in the world.
Buffett had been making annual contributions to five charitable foundations since 2006 as part of a plan to distribute about 99 percent of his net worth to philanthropy.
“With today’s $4.1 billion distribution, I’m halfway there,” he said in a statement.
He didn’t clearly state why he’s leaving the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation board at this time, and expressed his support for the foundation’s current CEO and its direction.
READ ALSO: Warren Buffett Net Worth Surpasses USD 100 Billion — Forbes
To recall, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda — co-founders of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — filed for divorce last May after 27 years of marriage but have pledged to continue their philanthropic work together.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation became one of the most powerful and influential forces in global public health, spending more than USD 50 billion over the past two decades to bring a business approach to fighting disease and poverty.
Last year, Buffett reported donating over USD 2 billion worth of his Berkshire stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of his previously announced plans to give away his entire fortune before his death.
“For years I have been a trustee — an inactive trustee at that — of only one recipient of my funds, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I am now resigning from that post, just as I have done at all corporate boards other than Berkshire’s,” Buffett said.
READ ALSO: Melinda Gates and Bill Gates Announce Divorce After 27 Years
Buffett and Gates pioneered “The Giving Pledge” campaign over a decade ago, encouraging dozens of US billionaires to give at least half of their fortunes to charity.
Since then, many billionaires had been active in philanthropy in everything — from genetic and cancer research to education, gun control, and libraries and the arts.
MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon.com Inc billionaire founder Jeff Bezos, had donated more than USD 4 billion towards food banks and emergency relief funds in previous months.
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