For two decades, billionaire investor Warren Buffett stood as one of the most significant backers of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, pouring more than $47 billion into the organization’s global charitable work. That long-standing partnership has now come to an abrupt end, just months after new details of Bill Gates’ professional and personal ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein came to light.
When Buffett first made his commitment to the foundation in 2006, he pledged irrevocably to donate annual shares of his holding company Berkshire Hathaway to the foundation for the entirety of his lifetime. This week, however, the 95-year-old investor released a revised list of recipient organizations for his annual multi-billion dollar stock gifts, and the Gates Foundation was noticeably absent from the roster. Instead, all of the upcoming donations will be divided between four family-led foundations tied to Buffett’s own relatives.
Buffett announced a timeline to fully distribute his remaining Berkshire Hathaway shares by December 31, 2034, a full eight years from now. Acknowledging the inherent uncertainty of human lifespan, he noted that regardless of circumstances, all of his remaining stock would be transferred to the four family foundations by that deadline one way or another.
The break in donations follows a cascade of new revelations about Gates’ relationship with Epstein, a financier who died in 2019 in a New York prison while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Declassified documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice in early 2024 first pulled the connection back into the public spotlight, and Gates testified before the U.S. House Oversight Committee in June to answer questions about his years of interactions with Epstein.
During his congressional testimony, Gates explained that he was first introduced to Epstein in 2011, with the meeting framed around a potential opportunity to raise billions of dollars for the Gates Foundation’s core global health initiatives. Gates acknowledged he was aware that Epstein had prior criminal convictions, including a 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from a minor, but said he failed to grasp the full scope of Epstein’s crimes. “I should never have met with Epstein in the first place,” Gates told the committee, adding that even if Epstein had delivered on his promised fundraising, the connection would never have been justified.
Buffett has not explicitly referenced either Gates or Epstein in his official statements about the revised donation plan. But in comments to CNBC back in March, Buffett confirmed he had not spoken to Gates since the Epstein connection was publicly re-examined earlier this year. He added at the time that he wanted to avoid being placed in a position where he could be called as a witness in any ongoing proceedings related to the case.
In a response to the end of Buffett’s donations, a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation expressed gratitude for his 20 years of support. The organization emphasized that it remains on solid financial footing, with Bill Gates’ own $200 billion commitment to the foundation’s endowment that will allow its work to continue through 2045.
The end of Buffett’s donations marks another major shift for the foundation in recent years, following the 2021 divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates after 27 years of marriage. Last year, Melinda French Gates stepped down from her role as co-chair of the foundation she co-founded, and has since launched her own initiatives focused on gender equity, including a $1 billion commitment to advancing women’s rights across the United States. Buffett and the Gates couple first partnered in 2010 to launch the Giving Pledge, a global initiative that encourages the world’s ultra-wealthy to donate the majority of their fortunes to charitable causes during their lifetimes or through their estates.