Warren Buffett has ended his two-decade-long donations to Bill Gates’s charitable foundation, weeks after the Microsoft co-founder detailed his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before a US congressional committee.
The 95-year-old investor had ‘irrevocably’ committed in 2006 to donate shares in his company, Berkshire Hathaway, each year to what was then the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ‘throughout my lifetime’. But this week the foundation was left off the list of organisations that will receive billions of dollars worth of stock. Instead, the shares will be split among four foundations involving members of Buffett’s family.
“Warren Buffett stops donations to Bill Gates foundation after Epstein revelations.”
Buffett did not mention Gates or Epstein by name in his statement. ‘Of course, mortality is unpredictable,’ he said. ‘But my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by 31 December, 2034.’ In March, he told CNBC that he had not spoken to Gates ‘since the whole thing was unveiled’ and added: ‘I don’t want to be in a position where I know things… to be called as a witness.’
Over 20 years, Buffett has donated $47bn (£35bn) to Gates’s foundation. The Gates Foundation said it was ‘grateful to Warren Buffett for his decades of support for our work’ and noted it ‘continues from a position of financial strength to advance our work through 2045, supported by Bill’s $200bn commitment’.
In June, Gates appeared before the US House Oversight Committee to answer questions about his relationship with Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. In testimony, Gates said he was introduced to Epstein in 2011 on the premise that Epstein could raise billions for global health. ‘I recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues, but I did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed,’ Gates said. ‘I should never have met with Epstein in the first place.’