Friday, 21 Mar 2008
Gates Foundation to Sell Over Half Its Berkshire Hathaway Shares
Posted By:Alex Crippen
Topics:Bill Gates Warren Buffett
Companies:Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Seth Wenig / AP
Bill and Melinda Gates pose with Warren Buffett after their 2006 news conference announcing Buffett's intentions to give the bulk of his fortune to the Gates Foundation.
The primary beneficiary of Warren Buffett's plan to give away almost all of the money that's made him the wealthiest person in the world will sell most of the Berkshire Hathaway shares it's already received from Buffett.
In a filing with the SEC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust reveals it has adopted a written sales plan to sell 550,000 of the 975,000 Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares it now owns.
At today's closing price of just under $4348, those 550,000 shares are worth almost $2.4 billion and the total holdings are worth over $4.2 billion.
The sales are planned for a three-year period starting April 1 this year. The filing also says the sales plan can be canceled at any time.
Why? "To facilitate the Trust’s compliance with federal excise tax rules limiting excess business holdings by private foundations."
The Gates Foundation, will be getting more shares, however, as Buffett continues his annual gifts. The AP notes that "Buffett is expected to give 451,250 Class B shares to the foundation this summer as part of his overall pledge to donate 10 million shares."
Current Berkshire Class A price:
Berkshire Hathaway Inc
US%3bBRK.A
132900.0 UNCH 0%
NYSE
Quote Chart News Profile[US;BRK.A 132900.0 --- UNCH (0%) ]
cnbc_quoteComponent_init_getData("US;BRK.A","WSODQ_COMPONENT_US%3bBRK.A_ID0EXGAC15839609","WSODQ","true","ID0EXGAC15839609","off","false");


Current Berkshire Class B price:
Berkshire Hathaway Inc
US%3bBRK.B
4440.0 UNCH 0%
NYSE
Quote Chart News Profile[US;BRK.B 4440.0 --- UNCH (0%) ]

No April Fool's joke +PDP Shorts Will Have To Cover Huge Soon

Market News: After the BellThe close: No April Fool's joke

RTGAMThe biggest movers on Tuesday say a lot about just what sort of stock market rally the U.S. enjoyed: It was a rush for the beaten up and unloved, as investors piled onto a rally out of a fear of being left behind.Citigroup Inc. rose 11.3 per cent. JPMorgan Chase [amp]amp; Co., rose 9.3 per cent. Lehman Brothers Inc., the subject of debate over whether it would survive just a month ago, rose 17.8 per cent.

And Fannie Mae rose 19.7 per cent.But the rush was far more widespread than it might first appear, sending all 30 stocks on the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average into positive territory. The index closed at 12,654.36, up 391.47 points or 3.2 per cent. The worst stock - the worst - was Coca-Cola Co., and even it rose 0.9 per cent.In this new, upside down world, Treasury bonds tanked. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond[amp]nbsp;approached 3.6 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously.[amp]nbsp;The broader S[amp]amp;P 500 closed at 1370.17, up 47.47 points or 3.6 per cent - with 97 per cent of the stocks rising.

The gains narrowed its losses for 2008 to just 6.7 per cent and certainly raises the question of what's driving the equity rally. Is it beginning-of-the-quarter rotations among institutional investors? Are investors betting that the massive writedowns announced earlier by UBS and Deutsche Bank will be the last? Or is this rally the result of relief over lower commodity prices?

There are many theories.In Canada, the S[amp]amp;P/TSX composite index managed to post a respectable gain of 88.15 points, or 0.7 per cent. It closed at 13,438.28, even though it was weighed down by a big retreat among high-profile commodities.

Gold fell to $887.80 (U.S.) an ounce in New York, down $33.70. Crude oil fell to $100.98 a barrel, down 60 cents.As a result of this commodity pullback, the energy sub-index fell 0.9 per cent and materials fell 1.8 per cent. Financials, however, rallied 2.6 per cent.[amp]nbsp;Copyright 2001 The Globe and Mail