Buffett hands over the first installment to Gates Foundation

Afer all the talk and the publicity etc., Warren Buffett donated $1.6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the first major installment in Buffett's plan to give away much of his fortune.

According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Buffett donated 500,000 Berkshire Class B shares, valued at $3,208 each based on Thursday's closing price. The shares rose $35 on Thursday.

Buffett, who turns 76 next week, announced plans in June to donate 85 percent of his fortune, then estimated at $44 billion, in the largest single act of U.S. charitable giving ever. About 70 percent of his net worth was to go to the Gates Foundation, uniting the world's two richest people in a bid to fight disease, reduce poverty and improve education.

Gates, the world's richest dork, co-founded and remains chairman of software company Microsoft Corp. He is also a director of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, the insurance and investment company Buffett has run since 1965, when it was a struggling textile maker. Gates and his Cascade Investment LLC investment company together own Berkshire stock worth about $419 million, the filing shows.

Buffett in June pledged a total of 10 million Berkshire Class B shares to the Gates Foundation, conditioned that money be distributed the year it is donated.

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