Buffett gifts leave out Gates Foundation

OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has donated more than $750 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock to the four foundations run by his family but, unlike his annual gifts to charity each summer, the recipients didn’t include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Buffett has been making annual donations to the same five charities each year since 2006 when he unveiled a plan to give away his fortune over time, with the Gates Foundation receiving the biggest donations. Wednesday’s donations mark the first time the 92-year-old has made a second major gift in the same year.

A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed Buffett gave 1.5 million Class B shares in the Omaha, Neb.-based conglomerate he leads to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his first wife. He also gave 300,000 Class B shares apiece to the three foundations run by his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.

Even after the latest gifts, Buffett still controls more than 31% of Berkshire’s voting power.