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Buffett ends Gates gifts
Warren Buffett stopped donating to the Gates Foundation after disclosures of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and he instead directed about $6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to four family foundations overseen by his daughter Susie and sons Howard and Peter.
“In short: Warren Buffett has stopped donating money to the Gates Foundation, following revelations about Bill Gates's ties to Jeffrey Epstein”
Buffett said he would donate 12 million Class B shares in his annual mid-year donation, and he omitted the Gates Foundation from the list of recipients in his statement on Tuesday.
The AP reported Buffett “omitted Bill Gates’ foundation from his annual donations this year,” while the BBC said the Gates Foundation was left off the list of firms that will receive billions of dollars worth of stock.
Buffett also tied the change to the timing of his remaining giving, saying, “my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034,” as the BBC and AP both described.
Shares, family foundations
Fortune described Buffett’s shift as ending a partnership that had lasted nearly two decades and $48 billion in donations, with the Gates Foundation receiving none of this year’s giving.
Fortune reported Buffett would donate 9 million Class B shares worth about $4.5 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 1 million shares worth about $500 million each to the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation, while the Sherwood Foundation would also receive 1 million shares.
The BBC said Buffett “irrevocably” committed in 2006 to donate shares each year to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as it was then known “throughout my lifetime,” but this year’s stock was split among Buffett family-linked foundations instead.
In a statement, Buffett said, “Of course, mortality is unpredictable,” and added that his remaining shares would be donated to the four foundations by 31 December, 2034, as the BBC quoted.
Why it matters next
The BBC said Buffett did not mention Gates or Epstein by name in his statement, and it quoted Buffett saying, “I don't want to be in a position where I know things... to be called as a witness.”
“Billionaire Warren Buffett stops donations to Bill Gates charity Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has stopped giving donations to Bill Gates' charitable foundation weeks after the Microsoft co-founder detailed his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein”
CNBC reported Buffett had not spoken with Gates “at all since the whole thing was unveiled,” and it added that Buffett said, “Until it gets cleared up ... I just don't think it makes sense to do a lot of talking.”
The Gates Foundation told the BBC it was “grateful to Warren Buffett for his decades of support for our work,” and it said the foundation “continues from a position of financial strength to advance our work through 2045, supported by Bill's $200bn commitment.”
Reuters-based reporting in NewsNation said the Gates Foundation had received more than $47 billion of Berkshire stock since Buffett in 2006 made what he called an irrevocable pledge, while Buffett’s latest gifts were described as more than $4.5 billion last year.
