Warren Buffett has ended his two-decade philanthropic partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, omitting it from his annual mid-year donation announcement for the first time since he made what he then called an irrevocable pledge to donate Berkshire Hathaway shares to the foundation throughout his lifetime.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the 95-year-old Berkshire Hathaway chairman announced he would donate approximately $6 billion worth of Berkshire stock comprising 12 million Class B shares split across four family foundations. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation will receive 9 million shares worth approximately $4.4 billion, while 1 million shares each will go to the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the Novo Foundation, run by his children Susie, Howard, and Peter respectively. The Gates Foundation received no mention.
The split marks a sharp acceleration of a plan Buffett had already signalled in 2024, when he said he intended to cut off donations to the Gates Foundation after his death and leave distribution decisions to his children. The decision announced Tuesday brings that transition forward significantly.
Buffett also stated in the same announcement that he intends to have all of his remaining Berkshire shares worth more than $140 billion donated to charity by December 31, 2034, tightening his previous timeline. Since he began giving away his fortune in 2006, Buffett has transferred more than $47 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Gates Foundation alone. That relationship is now effectively over.
“Warren Buffett has stopped donating money to the Gates Foundation, ending a two-decade philanthropic partnership following revelations about interactions between Bill Gates and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Buffett will donate ~$6 billion to four family foundations instead.”~Reuters
Epstein Files, a WilmerHale Review and Months of Silence Between Two Old Friends:
The backdrop to the decision is a series of disclosures that severely damaged Bill Gates’s public image following the US Department of Justice’s release of the Epstein files in late 2025. Those documents included photographs of Gates with Epstein, and emails showing communications between Epstein and staff at the Gates Foundation. Gates, 70, has not been accused of any crime.
He told the House Oversight Committee last month that he was introduced to Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor, and four years after a controversial non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors.
Gates described his association with Epstein as a “grave error in judgment,” told lawmakers that he had neither seen nor participated in any criminal activity, and claimed that the only reason he met with Epstein was to raise money for charitable causes. He described these meetings as ultimately unsuccessful, and the relationship ended by December 2014.
Buffett told CNBC in March that he and Gates had not spoken at all since the Epstein files were released, and he was waiting for the outcome of an external review the Gates Foundation commissioned from law firm WilmerHale into its historical ties with Epstein before deciding his next step. WilmerHale has not yet released its findings.
Despite that, Buffett moved ahead with his annual donation announcement on Tuesday without including the Gates Foundation. He told CNBC that Epstein was “astounding” as a manipulator, someone who found and exploited the weaknesses of others and said he did not want to be involved with anything that could later come under investigation.
“Warren Buffett excluded the Gates Foundation from his midyear donations for the first time since 2006, opting instead to donate ~$6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway shares to four foundations run by his children. More than $47 billion has gone to the Gates Foundation since 2006.”~Forbes
A Friendship That Spanned Three Decades:
One of the most well-known friendships in the corporate world was that between Buffett and Gates. The two men collaborated on some of the biggest charitable campaigns in history, had vacations together, played bridge online, and communicated frequently. Buffett was a member of the Gates Foundation board, while Gates was an active member of the Berkshire Hathaway board. Together with Gates and his then-wife Melinda, Buffett co-founded the historic 2010 Giving Pledge, which asked the richest people in the world to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.
That partnership produced, and was sustained by, a level of personal trust that made the 2006 donation pledge feel credible. Buffett’s decision to strip the Gates Foundation from his annual donation without waiting for the WilmerHale review signals that the damage to that trust has gone beyond anything the review’s findings could repair.
Gates’s ex-wife Melinda French Gates stepped down as co-chair of the Gates Foundation in 2024. The foundation launched an internal review of its ties to Epstein following the files’ release. The Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday’s announcement.
“Warren Buffett omitted the Gates Foundation from his annual donations after disclosures of Bill Gates’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Buffett will donate ~$6 billion to four family foundations. He says all remaining Berkshire shares — worth $140 billion+ — will go to charity by December 31, 2034.”~AP
What Happens to Buffett’s $140 Billion and the Future of the Gates Foundation:
The question of how the Gates Foundation will continue to operate in the long run becomes more urgent now that Buffett’s yearly contributions have been cut off. Since 2006, Buffett’s contributions have been the foundation’s single largest source of funding, dwarfing Gates’s personal donations in total value. The foundation’s operations are dependent on significant regular inflows. Buffett has set aside all of his remaining Berkshire stock for his family foundations, which he plans to distribute in full by 2034. The largest charitable donation in history will be managed by his three children, Susie, Howard, and Peter, with no part going to the Gates Foundation.
For Gates, the personal and institutional fallout from the Epstein disclosures continues to mount. He has now lost his closest philanthropic partner, his ex-wife departed the foundation he built, and he faced congressional testimony over a relationship he has described as one of the worst mistakes of his life. Whether the WilmerHale review, when it concludes, changes any of that remains to be seen.
“Buffett and Gates used to be exceptionally close friends who talked often, played bridge online and took vacations together. Buffett told CNBC in March he hadn’t talked to Gates since before the Epstein files were released. Now he has cut the Gates Foundation from his annual donations entirely.”~Fortune
