Buffett redirects billions in Berkshire stock to family foundations
Warren Buffett has halted the stream of donations to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that delivered roughly $47 billion over 20 years, redirecting the remainder of his fortune to family foundations in a mid-July update to his giving plan. The change came after Bill Gates detailed his association with Jeffrey Epstein before a House committee.
Buffett had irrevocably pledged in 2006 to donate shares of his company, Berkshire Hathaway, to the foundation each year throughout his lifetime. The foundation was left off the latest list of recipients who will receive billions of dollars worth of Berkshire stock. The stock will instead be divided among four foundations overseen by members of the Buffett family.
“Of course, mortality is unpredictable,” Buffett said. “But my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by 31 December, 2034.”
The decision follows scrutiny on Gates after the Justice Department’s release of files in January detailing his interactions with Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Gates testified before the House Oversight Committee in June, telling lawmakers he was introduced to Epstein in 2011 on the understanding Epstein could raise money for global health causes.
“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 in the transcript of his testimony. “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 did not mention Gates or Epstein in his statement about the change in donations. But in a March interview with CNBC, he said 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.”
The Gates Foundation responded that it is “grateful to Warren Buffett for his decades of support for our work.” The foundation said it “continues from a position of financial strength to advance our work through 2045, supported by Bill’s $200bn commitment.”
Buffett and Gates were two of the driving forces behind the Giving Pledge, the initiative launched in 2010 that enlists the world’s wealthiest people to donate the majority of their net worth to charity. Melinda French Gates, who co-founded the foundation with her former husband, resigned in 2024 and said she would donate $1 billion to women’s rights in the U.S.
The shift in Buffett’s giving plan ends what had been described as a lifetime commitment, rerouting the bulk of what remains of his fortune from the foundation he helped build into vehicles controlled by his own children.