Thu Aug 30, 2012, 06:30 AM

Warren Buffett gives 'reverse birthday gift' to children's foundations ($2.08 billion)

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Steve Jordon

Warren Buffett is celebrating his 82nd birthday today by doubling what remains of his original pledge of stock shares to the three foundations run by his children, Susan, Howard and Peter.

That means he will donate about $100 million a year to each foundation, up from an average of $64 million annually. By the time his pledge is fulfilled, the three foundations will receive what, at today's share price, amounts to $2.08 billion.

Over the past six years, the foundations already have received $1.16 billion.

“What a wonderful thing to do on his birthday,” said Peter, a New York musician and co-chairman of the Novo Foundation with his wife, Jennifer. “When he thinks about doing something, he gets excited about it. It's sort of a reverse birthday gift.”

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20120830/NEWS/708309921

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10 replies	Author	Time	Post
Warren Buffett gives 'reverse birthday gift' to children's foundations ($2.08 billion) (Original post)	Omaha Steve	Aug 2012	OP
Yay!	truthisfreedom	Aug 2012	#1
i wish he'd give a couple hundred million to Obama friendly superPACs	scheming daemons	Aug 2012	#2
It is a perfect tax hedge	Angry Dragon	Aug 2012	#3
God, the things people here get offended by. (nt)	Posteritatis	Aug 2012	#4
I am not offended by it	Angry Dragon	Aug 2012	#5
Offended? That was a statement of fact.	Gormy Cuss	Aug 2012	#6
Meh	4th law of robotics	Aug 2012	#8
Romney does have a foundation set up	Angry Dragon	Aug 2012	#10
He realized he can't take it with him	4th law of robotics	Aug 2012	#7
Buffet does it, Romney does it, Gates does it	Angry Dragon	Aug 2012	#9

Response to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Thu Aug 30, 2012, 06:46 AM

truthisfreedom (17,678 posts)

1. Yay!

Yay!

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Response to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Thu Aug 30, 2012, 07:12 AM

scheming daemons (21,273 posts)

2. i wish he'd give a couple hundred million to Obama friendly superPACs

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Response to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Thu Aug 30, 2012, 12:05 PM

Angry Dragon (24,073 posts)

3. It is a perfect tax hedge

and it gives his children permanent employment

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Response to Angry Dragon (Reply #3)

Thu Aug 30, 2012, 12:53 PM

Posteritatis (17,306 posts)

4. God, the things people here get offended by. (nt)

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Response to Posteritatis (Reply #4)

Thu Aug 30, 2012, 01:04 PM

Angry Dragon (24,073 posts)

5. I am not offended by it

I just stated facts

It is only available to the wealthy

Bill Gates did the same thing

They make it sound like they donated it, but they still have control of their money. This is the main factor.
It works as a great way to give jobs to friends and family.

They can do great things with their money. In the case of Gates he has used his money to tell this country that education needs to change and go the private route.

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Response to Posteritatis (Reply #4)

Thu Aug 30, 2012, 02:09 PM

Gormy Cuss (26,685 posts)

6. Offended? That was a statement of fact.

It's not negating the value of whatever charity/good works are done by the family foundations. It's just pointing out that it's also a way of providing guaranteed income to heirs. I went to college with some children of absurdly wealthy people. For some of them, their professional careers have consisted of nothing more than sitting on the boards of family foundations. There was no struggle, there were no lean years building up the resume. It was just handed to them because they were family.

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Response to Posteritatis (Reply #4)

Thu Aug 30, 2012, 04:03 PM

4th law of robotics (6,801 posts)

8. Meh

If Romney had set up a charity run by his kids and gave money to that people here would be calling it a cynical ploy to give money to his kids while writing off the tax-deductible donation.

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Response to 4th law of robotics (Reply #8)

Thu Aug 30, 2012, 05:57 PM

Angry Dragon (24,073 posts)