Foundation's fate

The head of US holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, has stepped down as a trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This was stated in a statement issued by Buffett on Wednesday.

Buffett said he had been a trustee of the Gates Foundation for many years, with whom he had a long-standing friendship. The Berkshire Hathaway chief stressed, however, that this is the only foundation to which he donates his funds.

"I am now stepping down from that position, as well as from positions in the management of all other companies other than Berkshire", Buffett pointed out. He noted that the fund's CEO Mark Suzman was "fully supportive" of his decision. "My goals are 100% aligned with those of the fund and my physical presence is no longer required to achieve them", Buffett explained.

Since 2000, Bill and Melinda Gates have headed the charitable foundation, which has about $50 million in assets. The organisation's main focuses include fighting dangerous diseases in developing countries, health and education programmes in the US. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been given through the foundation to develop a vaccine against a new type of coronavirus and to support the most vulnerable people in a pandemic. In May this year, the Gateses announced their divorce, although they had vowed to continue working together on the foundation they had established.

In 1965, Buffett acquired a controlling stake in the near-bankrupt textile company Berkshire Hathaway and turned it into a holding company that manages assets of companies operating in various fields. As of 2020, there were more than 60 of them. The entrepreneur and philanthropist Buffett turned 90 last August. He has been one of the top three richest people in the world for the past decades, but in 2019 he slipped to fourth in the ranking with a fortune of $67.5bn.