Warren Buffett resigns as Gates Foundation trustee

Warren Buffett resigned Wednesday as a trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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The billionaire chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said he has been an “inactive trustee” for years at the foundation.

“For years I have been a trustee — an inactive trustee at that — of only one recipient of my funds, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I am now resigning from that post, just as I have done at all corporate boards other than Berkshire’s,” Buffett said.

The resignation comes weeks after Bill and Melinda Gates announced their plans to divorce.

Buffett did not give a reason why he was leaving the Gates Foundation board at this time, only that he had resigned from other boards.

Buffett also announced Wednesday that he intends to donate $4.1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares to five foundations he has given money to since 2006. The donation would put Buffett halfway through his pledge to distribute all his shares of the stock to philanthropy.

“Over many decades I have accumulated an almost incomprehensible sum simply by doing what I love to do,” Mr. Buffett said. “Compound interest, a long runway, wonderful associates and our incredible country have simply worked their magic.”

The shares of Berkshire Hathaway make up about 99% of Buffett’s wealth, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Buffett has been making annual contributions to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Novo Foundation and the Gates Foundation.

“With today’s $4.1 billion distribution, I’m halfway there,” Buffett said in a statement.

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