Warren Buffett speaks with CNBC during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, NE on May 2, 2026.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Warren Buffett omitted the Gates Foundation from his annual charitable stock gifts, directing all of this year’s donations to four family-linked foundations.
Berkshire Hathaway said the 95-year-old chairman will donate 9 million Class B shares of Berkshire to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 1 million shares each to the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.
“My goal is to dispose of all of my Berkshire shares within about eight years,” Buffett said in a statement announcing the gifts. “As I explained last year, my children are unfortunately growing older. I have every hope that the three of them are able to carry out the disposal of my shares by December 31, 2034.”
Buffett did not include the Gates Foundation, which for years was the largest recipient of his annual Berkshire donations. Since 2006, the Berkshire chairman has donated more than $47 billion worth of Berkshire stock to the philanthropic organization founded by Bill Gates and his former wife, Melinda French Gates.
The omission comes after The Wall Street Journal reported that Buffett has held off on his customary donation to the Gates Foundation while awaiting the outcome of a review into the foundation’s ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a March interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick, Buffett said he had not spoken with Gates “at all since the whole thing was unveiled.”
Asked whether the two remained close friends, Buffett said they had shared “great times together,” but added, “Until it gets cleared up … I just don’t think it makes sense to do a lot of talking.”
The decision marks a break from the pledge Buffett made two decades ago. In a 2006 letter to Bill and Melinda Gates, Buffett wrote that he was “irrevocably committing” to make annual gifts of Berkshire shares to their foundation “throughout my lifetime,” provided that at least one of them remained actively involved in the organization.
Buffett will discuss his annual donations in an exclusive appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday.
“The Gates Foundation is grateful to Warren Buffett for his decades of support for our work,” the foundation said in a statement to CNBC. “His gifts, totaling more than $47 billion, have helped us expand and deliver on the foundation’s mission to improve health and opportunity for people around the world. The foundation continues from a position of financial strength to advance our work through 2045, supported by Bill’s $200 billion commitment.”