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Warren Buffett has laid out plans for Berkshire Hathaway and his fortune in the event of his death in a letter published on the global conglomerate’s website.
The legendary investor, dubbed “the Oracle of Omaha,” released the statement alongside news that he had donated millions of Berkshire Hathaway shares to four charitable trusts associated with his family.
Buffett, 93, converted 1,600 Class A shares into 2,400,000 Class B shares according to a regulatory filing seen by Fortune, submitted to the SEC on Nov. 21.
Of those shares, 1,500,000 were gifted to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, and 300,000 shares were given to the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation, respectively.
According to calculations by news agency Reuters, this amounts to a total donation of $866 million in Berkshire Hathaway funds—supplementing a $759 million donation made at the same time last year.
Buffett has made a habit of making such moves at Thanksgiving, last year making contributions to the charities run by his three children and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his late wife.
In the unexpected letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, the man worth $121 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index began by reassuring readers: “I feel good but fully realize I am playing in extra innings.”
Buffett’s letters are usually limited to an annual message to shareholders, and less frequently relate to large donations of Berkshire Hathaway stocks.
Buffett is showing no signs of slowing, having spent a portion of the year traveling. This spring he visited Japan and held intense meetings with the country’s top five trading houses: Itochu, Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co., Sumitomo Corp., and Marubeni.
Since then a stock rally has ensued across Japan, leading analysts to agree Buffett is still “at the top of his game.”
An ‘awesome responsibility’
Buffett, who has invested in the likes of Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and more recently the Japanese trading houses, also doubled down on his well-reported beliefs about wealth and philanthropy.
Since 2006 Buffett has donated an estimated $52 billion to charitable causes, a large sum of which—$39 billion—has been donated to his friend Bill Gates’ charitable foundation.
Buffett wrote that he and his children agree that dynastic wealth is “not desirable,” adding: “Moreover, we have had many opportunities to observe that being rich does not make you either wise or evil. We also agree that capitalism—whatever its weaknesses, including the vast disparities in wealth and political influence that it delivers somewhat capriciously to its citizens—has worked wonders and continues to work wonders.”