00:00Today on Forbes, the one reason Warren Buffett isn't the world's richest person.
00:07Warren Buffett shocked the world in 2006 when he pledged to give away nearly all of his vast fortune.
00:13Since then, Buffett has donated more than $55 billion worth of his Berkshire Hathaway to charity,
00:19including a $5.3 billion gift in late June this year
00:23that knocked him down two spots on Forbes' list of the world's richest people, from 8th to 10th,
00:28his lowest ranking in more than two decades.
00:32Forbes estimates his net worth to be $128.9 billion.
00:37But what if Buffett, who is 93 years old and perhaps the greatest philanthropist in history,
00:42had instead decided to keep all his Berkshire shares for himself?
00:47Buffett owned 474,998 Class A shares, then worth around $43 billion,
00:54when he made that historic announcement in the summer of 2006.
00:58If he still owned all that stock today, he'd be sitting on a pile of stock worth $292 billion.
01:06Add in another $1 billion or so worth of Class B shares and personal investments,
01:11and a less charitable Buffett would have a fortune of around $293 billion.
01:17That would make him some $41 billion richer than the planet's current number one, Elon Musk,
01:22whose net worth is $252.4 billion, $77 billion ahead of number two, Jeff Bezos,
01:29who's worth $215.9 billion, and $102 billion above number three, Bernard Arnault, who's worth $191 billion.
01:39Instead of being $6 billion poorer than his friend Bill Gates, who's worth $135.2 billion,
01:46Buffett would be worth more than two Bill Gates' combined.
01:50In other words, if Warren Buffett didn't decide to start giving away his wealth,
01:54he would easily be the richest person on Earth.
01:57In fact, by Forbes' estimates, he would be just a hair shy of breaking the record
02:02for having the largest fortune ever recorded, set in 2021, when Musk briefly surpassed $300 billion.
02:10With his theoretical $293 billion fortune, Buffett could personally buy the entire McDonald's Corporation,
02:17all of Coca-Cola's stock, or all 50 of the world's 50 most valuable sports teams.
02:23Instead, the famously frugal Buffett has been working to give away more than 99% of his fortune,
02:29mainly through a summer tradition of donations worth billions of dollars from his stash of stock
02:34to five hand-picked foundations, with each year's gift being 5% fewer shares than the previous years.
02:41Buffett once wrote, quote,
02:43My family and I will give up nothing we need or want by fulfilling this 99% pledge.
02:48I will continue to live in a manner that gives me everything that I could possibly want in life.
02:54The majority of Buffett's gifts have gone to a trust that funds the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
03:00which has gotten stock worth more than $43 billion at the time it was gifted.
03:05The $75 billion endowment charity, launched by Buffett's friend and bridge partner Bill Gates,
03:10and his then-wife Melinda French Gates in 2000,
03:13has put the money to use on poverty and health care initiatives in developing countries
03:17and education and economic mobility in America.
03:21In 2010, Buffett co-founded the Giving Pledge, alongside the Gateses,
03:25to encourage other billionaires to donate at least half their fortunes to charitable causes as well.
03:31Buffett stepped down as a trustee of the Gates Foundation in 2021.
03:36French Gates divorced Gates that same year and left the foundation earlier this month to branch out on her own.
03:43Buffett's three children and a foundation named for his late wife
03:46have gotten the rest of the shares as gifts designated specifically to go to the charities of their choice.
03:52More than $4.8 billion worth of shares, at the time of his gifts,
03:56went to the foundation named for his late wife, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation,
04:01which focuses on health care and education.
04:03That sum does not include at least $2.9 billion given to the foundation by Susan's estate following her death in 2004.
04:11And Buffett has given more than $8 billion in total, at the time of his gifts,
04:15to his children's three charities, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the Novo Foundation.
04:24For full coverage, check out Chase Peterson Whithorn's piece on Forbes.com.
04:30This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:32Thanks for tuning in.
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