Buffett Donates More Than 600,000 Shares

Billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett has donated 602,500 Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to five charitable foundations to complete the first year of his plan to give away the bulk of his $44-billion fortune.

Those shares were worth $3,213 each, or more than $1.94 billion, at the close of trading Tuesday. Most of the shares -- 500,000 -- went to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

But Tuesday’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission also mentioned a gift of 5,000 Class B shares, worth about $16 million at Tuesday’s prices, to an unnamed charitable foundation. No gifts of that size were included in Buffett’s plan to give away his fortune, so it’s unclear whether the gift went to one of the five foundations already expecting a share of Buffett’s wealth.

Berkshire Hathaway spokeswoman Debbie Bosanek said Buffett has said he would “make various gifts of the remaining un-earmarked stock to other charitable organizations.”