Warren Buffett cuts off Bill Gates foundation in Epstein fallout
Image: BBC News
Warren Buffett has stopped donating to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ending one of the most powerful philanthropic partnerships in modern history and casting a shadow over ties frayed by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
The 95-year-old investor had pledged in 2006 to give shares in his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, to the foundation "throughout my lifetime." But this week the Gates Foundation was left off the list of organisations set to receive billions more in stock.
Instead, the shares will be split between four foundations run by members of the Buffett family. Buffett said he would dispose of his remaining stock by 31 December 2034. "Of course, mortality is unpredictable," he said, "but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other."
The shift follows the US Department of Justice's release of Epstein files in January, which laid bare Gates' association with the late sex offender. Buffett has not named either man directly, but in March he told CNBC he had not spoken to Gates "since the whole thing was unveiled," adding: "I don't want to be in a position where I know things... to be called as a witness."
Why it matters: Over 20 years, Buffett donated around $47bn (£35bn) to Gates' charity — money that bankrolled global health and anti-poverty work on a scale governments struggle to match. His departure removes a cornerstone funder at a moment when the foundation is already navigating reputational storms.
The Gates Foundation told the BBC it was "grateful to Warren Buffett for his decades of support for our work," a measured response to a break that few saw coming.
What's next: Attention now turns to how the four Buffett-family foundations deploy their windfall — and whether the world's biggest charity can absorb the loss of its most famous benefactor without slowing its mission.