Topline
Warren Buffett on Wednesday said he reviewed Bill Gates’ ties with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, arguing that while “distasteful,” he found nothing “beyond what I could picture myself doing,” even as Buffett routed his annual giving away from the Gates Foundation.
Key Facts
The 95-year-old Buffett, in an interview with CNBC, said he examined Gates’ Epstein ties and said he “found nothing in there that was beyond what I could picture myself doing.”
Buffett’s comments follow the longtime Berkshire Hathaway chairman’s decision to direct all of his annual donations—about $6 billion in Berkshire stock—to four foundations run by his children, bypassing the Gates Foundation for the first time in decades.
A shift in Buffett’s charitable giving was designed to hand his children stewardship of his fortune, he told CNBC: “I tell the three children that it is theirs, and it’s their responsibility to get it done well.”
Gates visited Buffett in Omaha three weeks ago for a three-hour meeting, Buffett said, adding that Gates had already proposed another meeting.
what is bill gates accused of in the epstein files?
Gates, who had a relationship with Epstein starting in 2011, cut ties with the financier in late 2014 and has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein. In an interview with the House Oversight Committee over Gates’s Epstein ties earlier this month, Gates acknowledged having extramarital affairs, but said Epstein was not involved with any of the women. Gates admitted to Gates Foundation employees in February that he had two affairs with Russian women Epstein later found out about, and a spokesperson for Gates confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that he had a “consensual” relationship with Melanie Walker, a former Gates Foundation employee, starting in 2017.
crucial quote
“I read a great deal since Jan. 1 in terms of what happened, with Bill and Epstein,” Buffett said. “While it’s distasteful, while he made mistakes, I made mistakes hiring all kinds of people, or choosing friends, and then finding out later that, one way or another, they weren’t what I thought they were. I found nothing in there that was beyond what I could picture myself doing.”
forbes valuation
Buffett, known as the “Oracle of Omaha” as Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman, is the 10th-richest person in the world with a fortune estimated at $139.5 billion as of Wednesday. Gates, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975, has an estimated net worth of $105.6 billion.
key background
Buffett co-founded The Giving Pledge with Gates and his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, while pledging to give away 99% of his wealth. Buffett began donating annually to the Gates Foundation in 2006, though the donations were excluded from his midyear donations for the first time since 2006 on Tuesday, opting instead to give away thousands of Berkshire Hathaway shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the Novo Foundation. Gates has apologized for his links to Epstein, which resulted in his divorce from Melinda French Gates in 2021, who stepped down as co-chair of the Gates Foundation in 2024. Disclosed emails between Gates and Epstein showed the financier was in contact with Gates Foundation staff. The charity launched an external review in April and has said it would receive an update about that investigation this summer.