Warren Buffet arrives for the premiere of the film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, in New York, in 2010. The legendary investor pledged in 2006 to donate Berkshire shares throughout his lifetime.Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Warren Buffett confirmed he has stopped donating money to the Gates Foundation, following revelations about interactions between the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Buffett said on Tuesday he is donating about US$6-billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock, comprising 12 million Class B shares BRK-B-N, to four family foundations overseen by his daughter Susie and sons Howard and Peter.
He also said he will donate his remaining Berkshire shares “one way or the other” to the four foundations by Dec. 31, 2034.
Meeting Epstein was a ‘grave error in judgment,’ Bill Gates says, in closed-door hearing
The 95-year-old Berkshire chairman did not mention the Gates Foundation, which has received more than US$47-billion of the conglomerate’s stock since Buffett in 2006 made what he called an irrevocable pledge to donate shares throughout his lifetime. Buffett’s donation was more than US$4.5-billion last year.
Bill Gates told members of Congress in June that he “did not fully understand the extent” of Epstein’s crimes when he associated with the late convicted sex offender to raise money for his philanthropic foundation.
Gates also testified that he never witnessed any criminal conduct from Epstein.