CNN, Fortune and a number of other sites have reported on a news conference in which Warren Buffett has pledged to give away $44 billion dollars to the Gates Foundation!
The Foundation, now worth only $30 billion focuses on vaccines and other medical treatments in the Third World.
Buffett always said he would donate his fortune upon his death, but seems to have realized it is more fun to do it while you are alive.
Good for him!
The BBC story I saw reports the donation amount as $37 billion – it’s his net worth that is estimated at $44 billion. He could so totally afford to give away another billion or two … what a cheapskate. 
The report didn’t say where it was going.
He’s donating his money to Bill Gates.
I know that’s not really true. But reading it, I was thinking “most needless…charity…ever”
Um, yeah it did, several times – including in the headline and the first paragraph. And Paul mentioned it in the OP.
Have you been drinking again? 
Nah, it was a joke.
poke
I’m just bullshitting you.
Love me.
…someone hear a “whoosh”?
Ok, so, maybe I should start drinking.
Don’t judge me!
I just read this. I think its great, helping those who need help the most. I remember Bill Gates donating about $50 million to malaria a few years ago and someone saying ‘you just doubled research on malaria’. Bill Gates thought he was kidding as malaria affects over half a billion people a year. Nope. Global healthcare really is that lopsided. Its very shameful if anything that we act this way.
http://buzzfrog.blogs.com/zabrak/2004/10/bill_gates_fila.html
So I pick things that I thought weren’t being done, and I was stunned to find
that most of the research money in medicine, 95 percent goes on 5 percent of
the disease burden, and 5 percent of the money goes on 95 percent of the
burden, so I tried to pick something that just wasn’t being addressed, so
that’s gone very well in terms of getting a critical mass of smart people to
work on those things.
Its actually $37 billion out of his $44 billion forture though.
WOW !!! Good for you Mr Buffett !!! 
You know, Warren Buffett has always been my favorite billionaire.
Did you know that his daughters foudn out that dad was a billionaire by hearing about it on television. They were pissed. Dad lived in the burbs in Omaha! He drove to work in a Plymouth!
And now he gives all his money to the guy who used to hold the record for largest charitable donation! Seriously cool.
Wish I could have afforded to buy a share of his stock back when.
Tris
That gift tax is gonna be a bitch!
Of course he can probably right it off as charity.
Berkshire Hathaway’s annual reports are really enjoyable to read. His comments on taxes in particular are enjoyable.
I think it’s fantastic. There are so many things that need smart guys throwing tons of money at. But I immediately thought that he may be sick and wanted to get everything in place before he dies. I hope that’s not the case, because he deserves to assist in the distribution and see some of his philanthropic dreams come to fruition.
Buffett and Gates recognize that :
A huge factor in determining their wealth was the luck they had to have been born in the US.
That the creation of wealth and luxury isn’t what reflects what good can come of capitalism.
That human lives in third world countries are equivalent to human lives in the developed world.
That’s a powerful combination.
They are both really remarkable guys, and will be remembered for saving millions (if not hundreds of millions) of lives world wide.
I definitely tend towards the iconoclastic in most regards, but those are two men who I really admire. Really, Buffett and Gates are the only two people I could name who I would say actually “inspire” me.
They are doing indisputably good tasks with their money.