Buffett ends Gates Foundation partnership after $48 billion（約7.7兆円）, redirects giving to family charities

Warren Buffett announced Tuesday that he is fundamentally restructuring his charitable giving after nearly two decades of partnerships with the Gates Foundation. The 95-year-old Berkshire Hathaway founder revealed he is donating 12 million Class B Berkshire shares, worth just under $6 billion（約9600億円）, entirely to family-run foundations this year—with zero allocation to the Gates Foundation. This marks a striking reversal from 2023, when Buffett donated 9.4 million shares worth $4.6 billion（約7400億円） to the Gates Foundation. He further pledged that his remaining $140 billion（約22兆円） in Berkshire shares will be distributed to four family organizations by December 31, 2034: the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (9 million shares, approximately $4.5 billion（約7200億円）), the Howard G. Buffett Foundation (1 million shares, approximately $500 million（約800億円）), the NoVo Foundation (1 million shares, approximately $500 million（約800億円）), and the Sherwood Foundation (1 million shares).

The decision dismantles a partnership Buffett had made seemingly irreversible through an "irrevocable" lifetime pledge to the Gates Foundation in 2006, in which he promised donations as long as either Bill Gates or Melinda French Gates was alive and actively involved. The rupture has roots in multiple shocks: Gates' 2021 divorce from philanthropist Melinda French Gates, Buffett's own 2021 resignation from the foundation's 15-year trustee role, and most significantly, the revelation of Gates' meetings with disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Though Gates announced the divorce in 2021 with apparent amicability—Buffett stated at the time his goals remained "100% in sync" with the foundation—cracks widened in 2024 when he announced the Gates Foundation would receive nothing from his estate. In March 2024, Buffett told CNBC "there was a lot I didn't know" about the foundation, a cryptic comment that signaled deeper unease. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported Buffett had paused his midyear donation to the Gates Foundation pending a review by law firm WilmerHale into the organization's potential ties to Epstein; the law firm is expected to release its findings this summer.

Gates himself acknowledged the meetings with Epstein in written remarks to the House Oversight Committee last month, stating "Meeting with Epstein was a grave error in judgment and put this work at risk," while emphasizing that reputation underpins his partnership work. Justice Department documents released earlier this year revealed Epstein had spent a decade cultivating connections to people close to Gates, including Gates Foundation advisers, to gain influence. Despite the cloud, the Gates Foundation stated in response to the news that Buffett's cumulative gifts—totaling more than $47 billion（約7.5兆円） over nearly two decades—had been transformative, and that the foundation continues from financial strength, supported by Bill Gates' separate $200 billion（約32兆円） commitment to spend over the next 20 years before closing in 2045.

Buffett's personal distance from Gates has visibly widened. In his March CNBC interview, he noted "I haven't talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled. I don't want to be in a position where I know things at the moment. I could get called as a witness." When asked whether he would donate further to the Gates Foundation, Buffett declined commitment, saying "I'll wait and see what unfolds." By contrast, in a 2024 interview, Gates had told Fortune he and Buffett "love talking to each other"—a stark contrast to Buffett's months of silence.

The collapse of the Buffett–Gates philanthropic partnership marks a historic reversal of one of modern philanthropy's flagship collaborations. The two billionaires first met at Gates' parents' home in 1991 and later co-founded the Giving Pledge, cementing what appeared to be a lasting alignment. Buffett's 2006 "irrevocable" pledge to donate as long as either Bill or Melinda Gates remained actively involved codified that commitment. Yet the partnership has unraveled over just three years, beginning with Gates' divorce announcement in 2021—the same year Buffett stepped down as a trustee—and accelerating over Gates' documented meetings with Jeffrey Epstein. Although Gates has not been accused of participating in Epstein's illegal conduct, the revelation that Epstein spent a decade cultivating connections to Gates and the foundation prompted Buffett to halt his midyear donations pending a law firm investigation due this summer. Buffett's March 2024 comment that "there was a lot I didn't know" signaled deeper reservations than the amicable framing of his 2021 trustee resignation suggested. The 95-year-old investor's pivot to family foundations—channeling $6 billion（約9600億円） this year to organizations run by his three children and his late wife's namesake foundation—is not merely a charitable reallocation but a public and symbolic severing of a relationship he once deemed irreversible.