Buffett’s Final $140 Billion Trade: Here’s Where All His Stock Is Going, and Who Got Left Out

Warren Buffett just made the largest trade of his life, and it has nothing to do with the stock market. On Tuesday, July 14, 2026, the 95-year-old Berkshire Hathaway chairman committed to giving away every remaining share he owns, currently worth more than $140 billion, to four family foundations by December 31, 2034. He backed that commitment with an immediate donation of roughly $6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-B | BRK-B Price Prediction) Class B stock the same day. For the first time since 2006, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, recipient of more than $47 billion from Buffett over two decades, received nothing.

The $140 Billion Plan

“My goal is to dispose of all of my Berkshire shares within about eight years,” Buffett said in a news release. “Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034.” The plan sets a hard deadline regardless of when he dies, replacing his previous arrangement that gave his three children up to 10 years after his death to distribute the fortune.

Buffett currently holds 188,290 Class A shares and 1,162 Class B shares, worth roughly $140 billion at July 13 closing prices of $744,850 per A share and $496.85 per B share. Clearing that position by 2034 requires at least $17 billion in annual donations, more than double the roughly $7 billion he gave in 2025. He has long pledged 99.5% of his estate to philanthropy, putting the goal in plain terms: “Nothing will go to endowments; I want the money spent on current needs.”

Tuesday’s $6 Billion and Where It Went

The immediate donation totaled 12 million Class B shares, worth about $5.96 billion at July 13 closing prices, split four ways. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his late first wife who died in 2004, received 9 million shares worth roughly $4.5 billion. The Sherwood Foundation (chaired by his daughter Susie), the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation each received 1 million shares worth just under $500 million apiece. All shares were converted from Class A stock. Buffett intends the grants to the three children’s foundations to grow annually, with the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation receiving increases at a “somewhat greater rate.”

Buffett keeps his remaining A shares, which carry nearly all of Berkshire’s voting power. That structure preserves his effective control of the company even as his economic stake shrinks with each donation.

Who Got Left Out

The Gates Foundation’s absence is the story. Buffett had donated to the foundation every year since 2006, building a total of more than $47 billion across nearly two decades. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in July 2026 that Buffett was holding back the scheduled Gates donation pending a law firm’s review. The reason: Bill Gates’s disclosed connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

The Justice Department released roughly three million documents on Epstein in early 2026, and documents released by Congress added further detail. Among the revelations: Boris Nikolic, a physician, biotech investor, and adviser to Gates who introduced him to Epstein, is mentioned more than 14,000 times in the DOJ files. On June 10, 2026, Gates appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for a closed-door transcribed interview about the relationship. When the transcript was released, Gates was direct: “I should never have met with Epstein in the first place.” He said he sought the meetings in hopes of raising funds for global health causes, and that he never witnessed Epstein engaging in criminal conduct.

Gates has not been accused of participating in Epstein’s illegal actions. Buffett, meanwhile, told CNBC in March 2026 that he had not spoken to Gates “since the whole thing” with the Epstein files was unveiled. His characterization of Epstein was blunt: “Men are going to like sex…and some of them are going to like not paying taxes, and he figured out their weaknesses.”

The fallout has been broader than the Buffett split. The Gates Foundation announced it would cut up to 500 jobs, about 20% of its staff, by 2030, alongside an external review of its past ties to Epstein. The foundation’s statement after the July donation announcement was measured: “The Gates Foundation is grateful to Warren Buffett for his decades of support. His gifts, totaling more than $47 billion, have helped us. The foundation continues from a position of financial strength to advance our work through 2045, supported by Bill’s $200 billion commitment.”

What It Means for Berkshire Shareholders

Buffett is transferring shares directly to foundations rather than selling them into the open market, so the donation structure carries no sudden supply flood that would pressure the stock price. The foundations will liquidate shares gradually over years to fund their operations, following the same pattern the Gates Foundation used with prior Berkshire gifts.

Governance, however, is the more consequential long-term question. Greg Abel became CEO at the start of 2026, while Buffett remains chairman and retains effective voting control through his A shares. Abel wasted little time putting his stamp on the company. In Q2 2026, he spent roughly $4.5 billion on share buybacks, a sharp acceleration from the $235 million deployed in Q1. He also closed Berkshire’s $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison and added more than $10 billion to Berkshire’s Alphabet position, making Q2 the first quarter of net equity purchases in more than three years.

The cash pile that Buffett handed Abel stood at a record $397.4 billion at the end of Q1 2026. By June 30, after all of Abel’s Q2 activity, it had declined to $365.5 billion. Berkshire shares trade near $506, up roughly 3% on the year, though that still trails the S&P 500’s gain of about 13% over the same period.

The Largest Philanthropic Act in History

Buffett has now given more than $60 billion in his lifetime, with roughly $140 billion still committed. The combined pledge of roughly $200 billion is the largest philanthropic commitment in American history. He co-founded the Giving Pledge with Bill and Melinda Gates in 2010. As of late 2025, the pledge had grown to more than 250 signatories from 30 countries, including Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, and MacKenzie Scott. The rupture between Buffett and Gates makes the pledge’s 16th year its most consequential in ways no one anticipated.

He is 95, turning 96 in August, and the deadline he set himself is eight years away. The world’s greatest investor has made one final trade, and the return he is chasing is not measured in dollars.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct Berkshire’s Q1 2026 cash figure to the actual record of $397.4 billion and to reflect the Q2 2026 decline to $365.5 billion; the BRK-B share price and year-to-date performance have been refreshed to current levels; post-publication context has been added on Greg Abel’s Q2 capital deployment including the Taylor Morrison acquisition and expanded Alphabet stake, and on the Gates Foundation’s announcement of staff cuts tied to its Epstein review.

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