Warren Buffett cuts off donations to Bill Gates’ charity after Epstein revelations

Warren Buffett has stopped donating to the Gates Foundation, ending a two-decade philanthropic partnership following revelations about interactions between Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buffett said on Tuesday that he was donating about US$6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock, comprising 12 million Class B shares, in his annual midyear donation to four family foundations overseen by his daughter Susie and sons Howard and Peter.

The announcement by the 95-year-old Berkshire chairman did not mention the Gates Foundation, which has received more than US$47 billion of the conglomerate’s stock since Buffett said in a 2006 letter he was “irrevocably committing” ‌to donate shares throughout his life.

Buffett donated more than US$17 billion of stock to the four family foundations in the same period.

“Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034,” Buffett said in a statement.

Gates, 70, has seen his reputation tarnished following the US Department of Justice’s release of files about Epstein in February. He has not been accused of crimes.