Buffett says Gates-Epstein ties were distasteful as giving shifts to children

Warren Buffett told CNBC he is sending this year’s annual Berkshire Hathaway stock donations to four foundations tied to his family, excluding the Gates Foundation after years in which it was the largest recipient. The gifts include 9 million Class B shares, valued at about $4.5 billion, for the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 1 million Class B shares, worth just under $500 million, for each of three foundations run by his children.

In an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick, Buffett described Bill Gates’ relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as “distasteful,” while saying he did not view it as conduct outside the range of mistakes people can make. Buffett said he had read extensively since Jan. 1 about Gates and Epstein before changing the structure of his philanthropy.

“While it’s distasteful, while he made mistakes, I made mistakes,” Buffett said, referring to decisions about people he hired or befriended. He added that he had found nothing “beyond what I could picture myself doing.”

Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s 95-year-old chairman, has been close to Gates for more than three decades. He told CNBC that the two remain in contact and had met recently in Omaha for a conversation lasting about three hours. Buffett said Gates had proposed another meeting.

Family foundations take the lead

Buffett’s annual gifts are made through transfers of Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares. Instead of selling stock and donating cash, he assigns shares to charitable organizations, which then hold or sell the stock according to their own policies and funding needs. The value of the donation therefore depends on Berkshire’s share price at the time of the transfer.

Since 2006, Buffett has contributed more than $47 billion of Berkshire stock to the Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization founded by Gates and Melinda Gates, according to CNBC. The foundation is no longer included in this year’s allocation.

Buffett told CNBC that the change reflects his reassessment of how much responsibility his children should have in distributing his wealth. He said he once believed his children were not prepared to oversee very large philanthropic commitments, but that he had worked over many years to prepare them.

“I tell the three children that it is theirs, and it’s their responsibility to get it done well,” Buffett said.

The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for Buffett’s late first wife, is receiving the largest part of the 2026 distribution. The other recipients are the Sherwood Foundation, led by Susie Buffett, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Peter Buffett’s NoVo Foundation.

Buffett said in a statement earlier in the week that he aims to dispose of all his Berkshire shares within about eight years, citing the age of his children as one factor in accelerating the plan.

The shift places more of Buffett’s remaining fortune under the direction of his family’s philanthropic entities and reduces the Gates Foundation’s role in one of the largest private giving programs in the world. Buffett also told CNBC he recently had surgery after breaking his leg several weeks ago and said his recovery is going well.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.