Warren Buffett Suddenly Paused His Billion-Dollar Gifts to Bill Gates: The Reason is Epstein

For nearly two decades, Warren Buffett's summer transfer of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Gates Foundation has been an annual certainty. This year, it has not arrived.

Buffett, the 95-year-old Berkshire chairman, is holding back his usual gift while an external review into the foundation's historical ties to Jeffrey Epstein runs its course, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported the pause on 29 June. People familiar with his plans said a final decision could wait until his annual Thanksgiving letter.

It is the first such interruption in 20 years. Buffett has typically signed over billions in Berkshire shares each June or early July as part of the 'lifetime' pledge he made when he tied his fortune to Bill Gates' global health charity. He and his aides have been in contact with foundation leadership, including chief executive Mark Suzman, to learn more about the Epstein review.

Why the Epstein Review Stalled Buffett's Annual Gift

The Gates Foundation announced in April that Suzman, with support from Gates and the foundation's governing board, had commissioned an external review of the charity's past engagement with Epstein and its policies for vetting new philanthropic partners. The foundation retained law firm WilmerHale to conduct it, with findings expected this summer.

Scrutiny had been mounting since documents released by the US Justice Department and Congress from late 2025 into early 2026 exposed communications between Epstein and foundation staff, reviving questions about Gates' judgement. Gates co-founded the charity in 2000 and still chairs it.

Buffett has kept his distance from Gates for months. In a late March interview with CNBC, he said he had not spoken to Gates since the files began surfacing. 'I haven't talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled,' he said. 'I don't want to be in a position where I know things at the moment. I could get called as a witness.' Asked whether he would still make his June gift, he said he would 'wait and see what unfolds.'

Gates addressed his dealings with Epstein in testimony to the House Oversight Committee on 10 June. He said he 'should never have met with Epstein in the first place' and called the association a 'grave error in judgment,' while denying he witnessed or took part in any criminal conduct.

What Buffett's Pause Means for the Gates Foundation's Billions

Buffett has given the foundation roughly $47.9 billion (£37.8 billion) since 2006, according to its own fact sheet, most of it in Berkshire stock. Last June, he donated a record $6 billion (£4.7 billion) in shares split between the Gates Foundation and four Buffett family foundations, with the Gates Foundation receiving the largest share.

The foundation can absorb the delay. Its trust endowment stood at $89 billion (£70.3 billion) at the end of 2025, and it recorded $8.5 billion (£6.7 billion) in charitable support that year. Gates has said the charity intends to spend more than $200 billion (£158 billion) before winding down at the end of 2045.

The foundation has said a small number of employees interacted with Epstein after he claimed he could mobilise major funding for global health, but that it ultimately pursued no collaboration, created no fund, and made no payments to him. It said it regrets that any staff engaged with him.

Buffett and Gates have not spoken for months. Gates told the House Oversight Committee that the pair had not been in contact since January. Gates also missed Berkshire's annual meeting in May. According to The Journal, he was told he could not sit in the section reserved for Buffett, the company's directors, and other executives, including Apple chief executive Tim Cook.

Buffett is not the first major donor to reassess Epstein-linked ties. Harvard identified $9.1 million (£7.2 million) in gifts from Epstein between 1998 and 2008 and said it received none after his 2008 conviction.

The pause comes as Buffett's formal links to the foundation wind down. He stepped down as a trustee in 2021 and later said the charity would receive nothing from his estate, with most of his fortune going to a trust run by his three children. Melinda French Gates, who co-founded the foundation, left in 2024. Gates sat on Berkshire's board until 2020.

Buffett has not said publicly whether he will ultimately proceed with this year's gift. The Gates Foundation did not comment on the reported pause.