Buffett Foundation

From Free net encyclopedia

The Buffett Foundation is the charitable organization formed by legendary Omaha, Nebraska investor and industrialist Warren Buffett as a vehicle to manage his charitable giving. Allen Greenberg, the Executive Director, was once married to the Buffetts' daughter, Susie.

While the foundation is already a major charity with annual disbursments of over $12,000,000, it will become far more important after his death if he carries out his long-stated intention to leave approximately 99% of his net worth to it. The vast bulk of this wealth consists of his personal holdings in the Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, a conglomerate of which he controls almost 40% directly and has managed personally since the mid-1960s.

This could prove problematic in that much of the business of Berkshire Hathaway consists of stock insurance companies. In the past, many state insurance regulators have had serious qualms about allowing for-profit (as opposed to mutual) insurance companies to be ultimately controlled by non-profit entities. In probably the most famous case regarding this, the MacArthur Foundation was forced to divest itself of Bankers Life and Accident.