1st July 2026 – (New York) Warren Buffett has postponed his customary summer donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation while he awaits the outcome of an internal review into the charity’s historic connections with Jeffrey Epstein.
People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the 95‑year‑old Berkshire Hathaway chair is holding off for the first time in around twenty years. A decision on the gift could come later in 2026, potentially alongside his traditional Thanksgiving letter.
Those sources said Buffett and close advisers have been in contact with the foundation’s leadership, including chief executive Mark Suzman, to understand the scope of the Epstein review and any implications for future giving. The Gates Foundation did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication, according to the report.
Buffett has typically transferred Berkshire Hathaway shares to the Gates Foundation each summer, part of a “lifetime” pledge first announced in 2006. Since then, he has donated more than $43 billion to the charity established by Microsoft co‑founder Bill Gates and his former wife, Melinda French Gates.
The review follows renewed scrutiny of Gates’s interactions with Epstein. Gates began meeting Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Emails and photographs detailing aspects of their association have been disclosed in documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice and Congress since late 2025.
Testifying before the House Oversight Committee on 10th June 2026, Gates called his meetings with Epstein a “grave error in judgment”. He denied witnessing criminal behaviour by Epstein or taking part in any such activity, and said he only learned Epstein was a registered sex offender in 2018 following investigative reporting into Epstein’s 2008 plea deal.
In March 2026, Buffett told CNBC he had not spoken to Gates since the release of the Epstein files, adding that until the matter is clarified, “it doesn’t make sense to do a lot of talking”. While he spoke warmly of his long‑standing personal relationship with Gates, he indicated he wanted to avoid being drawn into the controversy or placed in a position where he might be called as a witness.
