Warren Buffett gives nearly 22M shares of his company's stock to charities for annual gifts

Warren Buffett has given several charities Berkshire Hathaway stock worth more than $2.8 billion as part of his plan to give away his fortune gradually through annual gifts.

Berkshire's chairman and CEO announced the gifts Tuesday in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In accordance with Buffett's giving plan, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation received the biggest gift worth more than $2.1 billion.

Buffett also gave nearly 1.7 million Class B Berkshire shares to his own foundation and 1.16 million shares to each of his three children's foundations.

Buffett also made smaller gifts to several unnamed charities.

Buffett has been giving away blocks of Berkshire stock since 2006, but still controls roughly 34 percent of the voting power because his 321,000 Class A shares carry more voting rights.