The rift between Warren Buffett and Bill Gates grows as Buffett annual skips donation to Gates Foundation for first time in 20 years

That review comes amid renewed attention to Gates’ relationship with Epstein. The tech founder has said he regretted his association with Epstein, but denied participating in any crimes at a town hall meeting earlier this month. He also acknowledged having had affairs with two women while married and apologized to Gates Foundation staff for the mistakes that led to the controversy.

The lack of a mid-year donation is a big change from what Buffett said in 2006, when he told Bill and Melinda Gates he was “irrevocably committing” to make gifts of Berkshire shares to the foundation every year “throughout my lifetime.”

What Buffett’s billions have helped fund

Since 2006, Buffett has given approximately $48 billion to the Gates Foundation. He has slowly been pulling back his own involvement in recent years, though. In 2021, he stepped down as a foundation trustee after Gates and Melinda French Gates announced plans for a divorce. And in 2024, he announced he would not be leaving any money in his will for the Foundation.

The Gates Foundation currently has an $89 billion endowment. It has focused much of its efforts on global health matters, particularly in Africa, with a special attention paid for infectious diseases and childhood mortality.

The foundation has been a major financial backer of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, whose efforts have helped reduce global polio cases by more than 99% since 1988. And as a founding partner of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the foundation has helped support immunization programs that have vaccinated more than 1.1 billion children and prevented nearly 19 million deaths.

In the U.S., the foundation has focused on improving high school graduation rates and college access for low-income students, including funding 20,000 scholarships.

It is scheduled to end its work in 2045.