Buffett Ends 20-Year Gates Foundation Giving Partnership

The decision marks a turning point in one of the most famous partnerships in modern charity. Buffett and Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, were once close friends who started the Giving Pledge together in 2010, encouraging the world's richest people to give away most of their money. Buffett had already said in 2024 that his gifts to the foundation would stop after his death, and this year's move brings that plan forward. He has recently grown distant from Gates after the United States Department of Justice released files about Gates's past contact with the late offender Jeffrey Epstein. Gates has not been accused of any crime and has expressed regret over the connection.

Buffett's remaining Berkshire shares, worth well over $140 billion, will now go to his family's charities. Most of this year's gift goes to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, led by his daughter Susie, with smaller amounts to three other family foundations. Buffett said all his remaining shares would be donated by the end of 2034. The Gates Foundation said it was "grateful to Warren Buffett for his decades of support" and added that it remains financially strong, backed by a $200 billion promise from Gates, to continue its work until 2045.