Story perspectives

Buffett Halts Gates Gifts, Shifts $6B to Family Foundations

7/16/2026

Summary

Buffett Redirects Billions

Warren Buffett will stop donating to the Gates Foundation and redirect $6 billion to his family foundations.
He called Bill Gates’ ties to Jeffrey Epstein “distasteful,” which drove the decision.
Buffett will give $4.5 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and $500 million to the Sherwood, Howard G. Buffett and NoVo foundations.
He pledged all remaining Berkshire Hathaway stock, now over $140 billion, will be donated by Dec 31 2034, citing his children’s ages.

Summary

Gates Foundation Review

The Gates Foundation hired external legal experts to review its past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein.
Bill Gates told a U.S. House hearing he never knew Epstein was committing crimes and apologized for the relationship.
The foundation reported assets of $77.6 billion at the end of 2024, nearing north of $90 billion.
Melinda French Gates’s 2021 divorce settlement gave her Pivotal Philanthropies about $8 billion, citing Gates’s Epstein ties as a factor.

Summary

Buffett Endorses Gates

Warren Buffett said the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will stay financially strong through 2045, supported by Bill Gates’s $200 billion commitment.
In a CNBC interview, Warren Buffett recounted a three-hour conversation with Bill Gates during a recent Omaha visit.
Warren Buffett said he stepped aside for Greg Abel at the start of the year after six decades leading Berkshire Hathaway.

History

Historical Context

Founded in June 2010 by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett, the Giving Pledge urged billionaires to donate over half their wealth. By 2023, 236 signatories had pledged about $150 billion, yet new enrollments have slowed as critics note its voluntary, non-binding nature and the rise of private foundations and donor-advised funds shaping modern philanthropy.

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Buffett Redirects Billions

Warren Buffett will stop donating to the Gates Foundation and redirect $6 billion to his family foundations.
He called Bill Gates’ ties to Jeffrey Epstein “distasteful,” which drove the decision.
Buffett will give $4.5 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and $500 million to the Sherwood, Howard G. Buffett and NoVo foundations.
He pledged all remaining Berkshire Hathaway stock, now over $140 billion, will be donated by Dec 31 2034, citing his children’s ages.

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