NEW YORK ? Investor Warren Buffett has donated another $1.5 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, part of his plan that began in 2006 to donate 99 percent of his wealth.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Buffett on Thursday donated 19.34 million Class B shares of his insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to the Gates Foundation.
The B shares closed up $1.25 at $77.77, while Berkshire Class A shares closed up $1,840 at $116,640.
Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft Corp. and a Berkshire director, and his wife Melinda created the Gates Foundation in the 1990s to address education, health and poverty problems.
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Buffett is the world's third-richest person, with a $50 billion net worth, Forbes magazine said in March.
The Gates Foundation said it employs 927 people, spent $2.6 billion last year, and has a $37.1 billion endowment.
Buffett expects the foundation to spend his gifts, which have totaled roughly $9.5 billion.
The number of shares that Buffett donates declines by 5 percent each year.
Buffett and Gates launched a philanthropy effort called The Giving Pledge in June 2010 to get the wealthiest individuals and families in America to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to charity.
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