Warren Buffett said on Tuesday that he will not commit to maintaining his long-standing, multibillion-dollar contributions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation while new information about Jeffrey Epstein's ties to the foundation and to Bill Gates is still emerging.
In his first televised interview since stepping down as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway in January, the 95-year-old chair told CNBC he has not spoken with Gates since the U.S. Department of Justice released documents in February that show repeated meetings between Gates and Epstein to discuss philanthropic activity after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea on Florida prostitution charges.
Donation history and current stance
Buffett began distributing his wealth in 2006 and has contributed more than $47 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Gates Foundation over the years. He has followed a pattern of donating Berkshire stock to the Gates Foundation and to four family charities each year around mid-year, with additional donations to the family charities in November. Last year, the Gates Foundation received more than $4.5 billion from Buffett's annual contributions.
Asked whether those donations to the Gates Foundation will continue, Buffett replied, "I'll wait and see what unfolds." He added, "I'm learning things I didn't know." The foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Documents and responses
The Justice Department materials referenced by Buffett include images of Gates with Epstein, as well as photographs showing Gates with women whose faces in the documents are redacted. Gates has said his interactions with Epstein related to philanthropic work and has acknowledged that meeting Epstein was a mistake. He has denied spending time with victims of Epstein's sexual abuse. In February, the Gates Foundation said Gates "took responsibility for his actions" when he discussed Epstein during a town-hall meeting with employees.
Reports cited in recent coverage indicate that Epstein appears to have played a role in arranging a significant portion of about $8 million in Gates Foundation grants between 2013 and 2019 to a think tank focused on global peace and security, and that those connections may have been associated with securing visas for young Eastern European women. The foundation has told the reporting outlet that Epstein was not involved in its grantmaking processes.
Buffett's reflections and prior views
Buffett said he is not sorry for having donated to the Gates Foundation, but expressed regret that "certain things hadn't happened." He also said he was astonished by how Epstein was able to deceive many people before his arrest in July 2019 on sex-trafficking charges. Epstein died the following month in a Manhattan jail.
"I don't see how anybody could have pulled that off," Buffett said. "This guy found people's weaknesses ... It is ruining one person after another."
In 2024, Buffett said his gifts to the Gates Foundation would cease when he dies, with 99.5% of his remaining wealth slated to go to a charitable trust managed by his children. The New York Times reported that by that time Buffett had grown concerned about the foundation's bloat and its diminished appetite for taking risks that could lead to more effective philanthropy.
Market reference
The discussion included a separate, promotional-style reference to Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares, asking whether BRKb is a bargain and pointing readers to valuation tools to assess the stock. The article noted the existence of valuation resources that use multiple industry models to evaluate BRKb and other stocks.
Buffett remains chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and retains a public role in philanthropic planning tied to his longstanding giving program.