Warren Buffett announced Tuesday he is omitting the Bill Gates Foundation from his annual charitable donations for the first time, citing what sources close to the matter describe as a cooling of their relationship following the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files in fall 2025.
The 95-year-old Berkshire Hathaway chairman said he will direct approximately $6 billion this year to four foundations linked to his own family, including $4.5 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and $500 million each to foundations run by his three children. Gates’ foundation was not mentioned.
“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 Tuesday.
Buffett also announced he wants all remaining Berkshire Hathaway stock, valued at more than $140 billion, donated to charity by the end of 2034, accelerating a previously announced timeline that had pegged the distribution to 10 years after his death.
Buffett told CNBC in March that he had not spoken to Gates in months, since before the Epstein files were publicly released. When asked about Epstein, Buffett told the network: “It is astounding to me that anybody could be that successful as a con person.” He declined to discuss Gates directly but said he does not want to be associated with anything that “could be investigated later.”
Gates has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has not been accused of wrongdoing. He has said his meetings with Epstein were intended to help raise money for charitable causes.
The two billionaires were once inseparable. Gates sat on Berkshire Hathaway’s board for years, Buffett served on the Gates Foundation board, and they regularly vacationed and played bridge together. That relationship began fracturing after Epstein’s name was linked repeatedly to Gates in court documents and media reports.
More than $61 billion of Buffett’s charitable giving over the past two decades flowed to the Gates Foundation. Last year’s donations totaled roughly $6 billion, with a sizable portion going to Gates’ organization. This year’s announcement allocates a similar total amount, with all of it redirected to Buffett’s family foundations.
