Warren Buffett excludes Gates Foundation from his annual donations of Berkshire stock
Warren Buffett speaks to CNBC during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting on May 2, 2026 in Omaha, NE.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Warren Buffett has removed the Gates Foundation from its annual charitable stock donations and directed all of this year’s donations to four family-affiliated foundations.
Berkshire Hathaway says it will donate 9 million Class B shares of 95-year-old chairman Berkshire 1 million shares each to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the Novo Foundation.
“My goal is to divest all of my Berkshire holdings in approximately eight years,” Buffett said in a statement announcing the gifts. “As I announced last year, my children are unfortunately growing up. I hope that all three of them will be able to sell my shares by December 31, 2034.”
Buffett did not take into account the Gates Foundation, which for years has been the largest recipient of annual Berkshire donations. Since 2006, the Berkshire chairman has donated more than $47 billion worth of Berkshire stock to the charity founded by Bill Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates.
Deficiency comes later The Wall Street Journal reported Buffett has delayed his usual donation to the Gates Foundation as he awaits the outcome of an investigation into the foundation’s ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick in March, Buffett said he hasn’t spoken to Gates “at all since everything was announced.”
Asked if the two remain close friends, Buffett said they had “great times together,” but added: “Until that situation becomes clear… I don’t think it makes sense to talk too much.”
The decision marks a break with a promise Buffett made two decades ago. In a 2006 letter to Bill and Melinda Gates, Buffett wrote that he was “irrevocably committed” to donating Berkshire shares to their foundation annually “for the rest of his life” as long as at least one of them was actively involved in the organization.
Buffett will discuss his annual giving in a special appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday.
