SEATTLE (AP) - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's trust will sell more
than half of its nearly 1 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock to
comply with federal tax rules, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission
filing Thursday.
The Gates Foundation said it will sell 550,000 Class B shares of Berkshire
Hathaway, which is run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, over the next
three years beginning April 1. Those shares are now worth $2.39 billion. The
plan was adopted so the trust can comply with federal tax rules limiting excess
business holdings by private foundations, the filing said.
Collectively, the foundation and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates own
the equivalent of 7.8 percent of Berkshire Hathaway's Class B stock. Two years
ago, Buffett pledged to give away the bulk of his Berkshire Hathaway stock to
the Gates Foundation in annual gifts until his death.
Buffett is expected to give 451,250 Class B shares to the foundation this
summer as part of his overall pledge to donate 10 million shares.
The Omaha, Neb., company's Class B shares rose $82.63 to $4,347.88 Thursday.
Buffett was named the world's richest man in the world earlier this month
when Forbes magazine estimated his fortune, which is primarily Berkshire stock,
is worth $62 billion. Gates ranked No. 3 with an estimated net worth of $58
billion.
Berkshire owns more than 60 companies, including insurance, clothing,
furniture, jewelry and candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate
jet firms and has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co.,
Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Wells Fargo & Co.
The Gates Foundation, based in Seattle, is the world's largest philanthropic
organization with an endowment of $38.7 billion as of Dec. 31.
(This version CORRECTS that Gates Foundation, not Berkshire Hathaway, filed
the documents regarding plan to sell Berkshire stock.)
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