Warren Buffett makes gifts to charity worth $1.53B

SEATTLE — Billionaire Warren Buffett has donated $1.25 billion in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The gift is the third installment in Buffett's plan to transfer the majority of his wealth to the Seattle-based foundation run by the Microsoft Corp. chairman and his wife. The foundation is the world's largest with an endowment of $27.5 billion as of April 2009.

Last year, before the recession depressed Berkshire Hathaway's stock, Buffett's gift of a similar number of shares was worth $1.8 billion, or 30 percent more.

Thursday's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission also lists donations of shares of Class B stock worth $125 million to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and nearly $50 million each to the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.

Class B shares were worth $2,924 at the close of trading July 1, the day Buffett transferred their ownership.

Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway owns a mix of more than 60 companies, including insurance, furniture, carpet, jewelry, restaurants and utility businesses.

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On the Net:

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com

Gates Foundation: http://www.gatesfoundation.org