Warren Buffett, the renowned billionaire investor, has described fellow magnate Bill Gates’ association with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as “distasteful.” However, Buffett clarified that his decision to cease donating to the Gates Foundation stemmed from his children’s readiness to manage and distribute his vast wealth.
“I tell the three children that it is theirs, and it’s their responsibility to get it done well,” Buffett stated in interview excerpts broadcast on CNBC.
The comments followed the 95-year-old Berkshire Hathaway chairman’s annual midyear charitable donations, which saw him contribute nearly $6 billion of his conglomerate’s stock.
Notably, this year’s allocation omitted the Gates Foundation, a significant shift given that Buffett donated more than $47 billion of Berkshire stock to the foundation since 2006.
Instead, his latest donation, comprising 12 million Class B shares, is directed to four foundations led by his children, Susie, Howard, and Peter.
With these contributions, Buffett has now donated over $23 billion of Berkshire stock to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation since 2006.
Buffett confirmed that Gates, a long-time friend and former Berkshire director, visited him in Omaha three weeks prior.
This meeting occurred after the U.S. Department of Justice released files in February detailing Gates’ relationship with Epstein, including discussions around philanthropy.
Gates has since met with Congress regarding the financier and has repeatedly expressed regret for any involvement with Epstein, though he has not been accused of any crimes.
Reflecting on the situation, Buffett remarked, “While it’s distasteful, while he made mistakes, I made mistakes in hiring all kinds of people, or choosing friends, and then finding out later that one way or another they weren’t what I thought.”
Despite this, Buffett maintained that donating to the Gates Foundation was a “good decision” and expressed no regrets about his friendship with Gates, adding, “We have had [an] enormous number of good times together. It has been a wonderful friendship.”
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, following his arrest on sex trafficking charges, with his death ruled a suicide by New York City’s medical examiner.
In a related announcement, Buffett also accelerated the timeline for distributing his remaining Berkshire shares, which constitute approximately a 13% stake in the $1.06 trillion conglomerate.
He now aims for these shares to be distributed by the end of 2034, rather than 10 years after his death, citing his children’s advancing ages. His oldest child, Susie Buffett, will be 81 by the end of 2034.
“I reevaluated my whole situation,” Buffett explained on CNBC. “It’s not just a question of mortality. It’s a question of keeping your marbles.”