Copyright The New York Times
In one of his last letters to Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders as the firm’s chief executive, Warren E. Buffett said Monday that he would speed up his plans to give away much of his $150 billion personal fortune to his children’s philanthropic foundations. “My children are now at their prime in respect to experience and wisdom but have yet to enter old age,” Mr. Buffett, 95, wrote of his daughter and two sons, who range in age from 67 to 72. Mr. Buffett announced in May that he would step down at the end of this year and turn Berkshire Hathaway’s leadership over to Gregory Abel, 63, who joined Berkshire when it bought the energy business he led in 2000. Mr. Abel “understands many of our businesses and personnel far better than I now do,” Mr. Buffett wrote on Monday. Mr. Abel will inherit a multinational conglomerate with a vast portfolio and a famously high stock price. Its “class A” shares ended trading on Friday at $748,320.
