Buffett, Who Halted Donations to Gates Foundation, Calls Gates-Epstein Ties "Distasteful"

Warren Buffett, 94, chairman of the board at Berkshire Hathaway and widely known as the "Oracle of Omaha," has described the relationship between Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (who died in 2019) as "distasteful."

Buffett made the remarks in an interview released by CNBC on July 15 (local time), regarding his decision to halt annual donations to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the charitable and research-funding organization established by Gates.

Regarding Gates' conduct involving Epstein, Buffett said, "It was distasteful, but he made a mistake, and I have made mistakes in hiring people or choosing friends, only to realize later that they were not the people I thought they were."

However, he added that those mistakes did not go beyond the scope of what he could imagine.

Berkshire Hathaway announced the day before, while releasing Buffett's annual list of donations, that it had stopped the large-scale contributions to the Gates Foundation that had been ongoing since 2006.

Gates served on the board of directors at Berkshire Hathaway for over a decade, from 2004 to 2020, and has maintained a close relationship with Buffett.

Buffett has previously donated more than 47 billion dollars (approximately 70 trillion won) worth of Berkshire stock to the Gates Foundation.

The connection between Gates and Epstein was specifically revealed earlier this year through correspondence between the two, which was included in the so-called "Epstein files," a set of investigative records released by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Gates' reputation took a hit after his interactions with Epstein were made public, and he even appeared at a U.S. House hearing on June 10 to testify about his relationship with Epstein.

Buffett mentioned that he is still in contact with Gates, noting that Gates visited him in Omaha three weeks ago and they spent several hours together.

Previously, in an interview at the end of March, Buffett had stated that he had not spoken to Gates at all since the facts about the interactions between Epstein and Gates emerged.

Regarding Berkshire's recent large-scale investment in Google's parent company, Alphabet, Buffett said it was "initiated by me," not by his successor, CEO Greg Abel.

"He (Greg) and I do not do things that we don't agree on. We are always in communication, but the final decision-maker is Greg," Buffett said.

Alphabet previously launched an 80 billion dollar (approximately 120 trillion won) capital increase last month for investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, and in the process, Berkshire acquired 10 billion dollars (approximately 15 trillion won) worth of Alphabet shares through a third-party allocation.

As debates over a bubble in AI-related stocks continue on Wall Street and beyond, Berkshire's massive acquisition of Alphabet shares, given its focus on value investing, has caused a significant stir in the market.

The move has sparked speculation that Berkshire, under Abel's leadership, may be seeking a change, considering the company has historically been cautious about investing in tech stocks, with the exception of Apple.

Buffett pointed out that the massive capital investment required in the AI race is a key issue facing Alphabet and its competitors.

"Google and its competitors are currently pouring in hundreds of billions of dollars, and the money they are pouring in is real money," he said. "They didn't compete like this over software in the past."

Regarding the current state of the stock market, he said, "It is hard to find value when everyone prefers to gamble."

In an interview last May, Buffett criticized the speculative frenzy in financial markets, noting, "People are free to go to church and the casino, and while there are more people in church than in the casino, the casino has become very attractive."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.