OMAHA, Neb. — Legendary investor Warren Buffett made clear Wednesday that his choice to steer his charitable giving away from the Gates Foundation has more to do with his faith in his three children than with Bill Gates’ connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaking to CNBC, Buffett described Gates’ association with Epstein as “distasteful,” but the 95-year-old said Gates’ misstep wasn’t all that different from errors he himself had made over the years when it came to picking the wrong people — whether in business or in personal relationships.
“No one bats a thousand in the business of choosing people,” Buffett told CNBC.
Buffett said he had spent considerable time since January 1st reviewing what took place between Gates and Epstein, including Gates’ sworn congressional testimony and the cross-examination that followed. He also noted that Gates eventually cut ties with Epstein entirely.
According to Buffett, Gates was not caught off guard by the announcement Buffett made Tuesday — that he plans to eventually donate all remaining shares of his $140 billion Berkshire Hathaway stake to foundations tied to his family and his three children, Howard, Susie, and Peter. Gates had actually flown to Omaha a few weeks prior and spent several hours meeting with Buffett. The two had largely been out of contact since new details about Gates’ relationship with Epstein began emerging as federal investigators released files from the Epstein case.
Gates has maintained that he only met with Epstein because he believed the meetings could help him raise money for charitable work, and that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s ongoing criminal behavior.
Epstein, who faced accusations of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, was found dead inside a Manhattan federal detention facility in August 2019. New York City’s medical examiner later ruled his death a suicide.
Buffett had previously stated in 2024 that he intended to stop directing donations to the Gates Foundation after his passing and allow his children to determine how the remainder of his wealth would be distributed.
In the same CNBC interview, Buffett also disclosed that he recently suffered a broken leg and had surgery to address it, though he said his recovery is going well.
The Gates Foundation did not respond immediately following Buffett’s Wednesday interview, but the day before, the organization had expressed gratitude to Buffett for contributing more than $47 billion since 2006. The Gates Foundation itself is set to shut down in 2045, after distributing the remainder of Gates’ own fortune.
Buffett said he now wants his wealth distributed even faster than he had previously indicated — specifically, by the close of 2034. Achieving that timeline would require him to dramatically ramp up his annual giving to more than $17 billion per year.
At present, he is donating roughly $6 billion annually to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and the foundations operated by each of his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the Novo Foundation. The bulk of that giving flows to the foundation named after his late wife, which could soon rank among the largest philanthropic organizations in the world. Buffett also traditionally makes additional contributions to his family foundations each Thanksgiving.
After his death, Buffett has said a new foundation will be established to handle the distribution of his remaining shares, with the requirement that all three of his children must reach unanimous agreement on where those funds go. He wants his children to be able to make those decisions while they are still alive — and his oldest daughter will be nearly 81 years old in eight years.
The faster pace of giving also has implications for Berkshire Hathaway. By distributing his fortune over the next eight years rather than over the decade following his death, Buffett’s family will not serve as the company’s dominant shareholder for as long as his designated successor, Greg Abel, had anticipated.
Even so, Buffett expressed strong confidence in Abel’s ability to lead the conglomerate, saying that belief “becomes more evident by the day.”
Buffett did point out, however, that Berkshire’s significant investment in Google’s parent company — which has grown substantially in value over the past year — was a decision he made himself, not Abel, though Abel did sign off on it. Just last month, Berkshire agreed to put an additional $10 billion into Alphabet, following a previous move that tripled the company’s stake.
