Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has stopped giving donations to Bill Gates’ charitable foundation weeks after the Microsoft co-founder detailed his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Buffett “irrevocably” committed in 2006 to donate shares in his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, each year to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as it was then known “throughout my lifetime”.
But on Thursday, the Gates Foundation was left off the list of firms that will receive billions of dollars worth of stock.
The stock will instead be split between four foundations involving members of the Buffett family. The 95-year-old said he will dispose of his remaining stock over the next eight years.
“Of course, mortality is unpredictable,” said Buffett. “But my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by 31 December, 2034.”
Gates’ association with Epstein was revealed when the US Department of Justice released files in January.
Buffett did not mention Gates or Epstein by name in his statement regarding his donations.
But in March, he told CNBC, external that he had not spoken to Gates “since the whole thing was unveiled”.
He added: “I don’t want to be in a position where I know things… to be called as a witness.”
Buffett has donated $47bn (£35bn) to Gates’ charity over 20 years.
The Gates Foundation told the BBC it was “grateful to Warren Buffett for his decades of support for our work”.
It said: “The foundation 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 a transcript of his testimony, Gates said that he had been introduced to Epstein in 2011 on the premise that he could raise billions of dollars for global health – a key focus of the foundation.
“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.
Three years earlier, Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution.
Gates told the committee: “I should never have met with Epstein in the first place. Based on what I know now, I understand that even if he had delivered the donors he promised, it would not have justified associating with him.”
Buffett was an enthusiastic supporter of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, stating in 2006 he “greatly” admired what it was accomplishing and promised to make yearly donations.
In 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates and Buffett started the Giving Pledge, which aimed to get extraordinarily wealthy people to give away the majority of their fortune during their lifetime or in their will.
Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.
Melinda French Gates resigned in 2024 from the foundation she co-founded and said that she would donate $1bn to help women’s rights in the US.
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