Buffett Redirects $6 Billion From Gates Foundation, Sets 2034 Deadline

Warren Buffett is redirecting roughly $6 billion in annual Berkshire Hathaway stock donations away from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, allocating the funds entirely to four foundations managed by his family. The move confirms the definitive fracture of a philanthropic partnership that has directed the vast majority of Buffett's charitable giving since 2006.

The decision stems directly from disclosures regarding Gates’s past associations with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. By cutting off the Gates Foundation while accelerating his overall giving timeline, Buffett is demonstrating an uncompromising aversion to reputational risk that supersedes decades of personal friendship.

Buffett also established a hard deadline for the dispersal of his entire fortune, currently valued at more than $140 billion. He now intends for all his remaining Berkshire shares to be donated by December 31, 2034, abandoning the previous plan that left the timing to his three children for 10 years following his death. This gives Berkshire shareholders a definitive, decade-long window to anticipate the annual incremental dilution from these massive stock transfers.

This year’s allocation directs about $4.5 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, with the Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and Novo Foundation each receiving roughly $500 million. “The goal is to have the grants grow annually to each of the three foundations managed by each of my children and the annual grant to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation grow at a somewhat greater rate,” Buffett said in a statement.

More than $61 billion of Buffett’s historical charitable contributions have flowed to the Gates Foundation. The two billionaires previously shared an unusually close alliance, with Gates serving on Berkshire’s board and Buffett holding a seat on the Gates Foundation’s board. That relationship deteriorated sharply after the release of Justice Department files in the fall of 2025, with Buffett telling CNBC in March that he had not spoken to Gates for months.

Buffett declined to specifically discuss Gates’s involvement, but expressed astonishment at Epstein’s ability to infiltrate elite circles. “It is astounding to me that anybody could be that successful as a con person,” Buffett said. “I mean, whether it was, he found their weakness. It might have been sex. It might be power, it might be, whatever it might be. And I don’t see how anybody could have pulled that off.”

Gates has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has not been accused of wrongdoing, stating he met with the financier solely to raise money for charity. The Gates Foundation announced in March that it hired an external reviewer to examine its past engagement with Epstein and evaluate its partnership vetting policies, with a review expected this summer.