After donating over $39 billion over 15 years, Warren Buffett has indicated that his support for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation may end with his passing.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the 93-year-old philanthropist stated that his will does not include explicit support for charity to the Gates Foundation after his death. Until now, there was no clear indication of what might happen to his fortune upon his passing.
“The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death,” said Buffett, whose longtime business partner at Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger, passed away at 99 late last year.
Buffett explained that all his remaining wealth—currently valued at around $127 billion—that he has not given away by then will be placed in a charitable trust overseen by his three children: Howard, Susie, and Peter.
While this does not rule out the possibility of future donations to the Gates Foundation, Buffett said his children would need to unanimously decide how his billions will be allocated once he’s gone.
“I feel very, very good about the values of my three children,” he told the Journal, “and I have 100% trust in how they will carry things out.”
Buffett, whose will becomes public upon his death, first outlined a plan for his wealth in November, naming his three children as executors and trustees.
“They were not fully prepared for this awesome responsibility in 2006, but they are now,” he said.
In the interview, his daughter and two sons mentioned they had not yet made concrete plans for how the money would be spent, noting that it would depend on tax laws, societal developments, and other factors.
“I can imagine it will be probably some continuation of what we’ve been doing,” Susie Buffett said.