Billionaire Warren Buffett stated on Wednesday that his decision to exclude the Gates Foundation from his charitable giving stems more from his confidence that his three children are prepared to manage the distribution of his entire fortune than from any connection Bill Gates had with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buffett told CNBC that Gates’ association with Epstein was “distasteful,” but the 95-year-old investor suggested that Gates’ actions were not substantially different from the mistakes he himself had made over the years in hiring the wrong person or choosing friends.

"No one bats a thousand in the business of choosing people," Buffett remarked on CNBC.

Buffett stated that he had "read a great deal since Jan. 1 in terms of what happened with Bill and Epstein. And I have read his remarks to Congress given under oath, and I read the cross-examination."

He observed that Gates ultimately terminated his association with Epstein.

Buffett stated that Gates was not surprised by the decision, announced on Tuesday, to eventually donate all of his remaining $140 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to foundations associated with his family and his three children: Howard, Susie, and Peter.

Gates flew to Omaha a few weeks ago and spent several hours talking with Buffett.

The two had not communicated much since before further details about Gates and Epstein began to emerge when the federal government started releasing files from the Epstein investigation.

Gates has stated that he only met with Epstein because he believed it might facilitate fundraising for philanthropic initiatives, and he was unaware of the full extent of Epstein's ongoing criminal activities.

Epstein, who had been accused of sexually abusing numerous underage girls, was discovered dead at the Manhattan federal detention facility in August 2019.

The New York City medical examiner subsequently ruled his death a suicide.

Gates described Buffett as "one of the greatest philanthropists of all time, and a dear friend" with whom he hopes to spend considerably more time in the future.

His wisdom, generosity, and profound sense of purpose have shaped both his life and his philanthropic work.

His contributions to the Gates Foundation, totaling nearly $50 billion over the past two decades, have been unparalleled and have helped save millions of lives,” Gates stated.

In 2024, Buffett stated that upon his death, he intended to cease donations to the Gates Foundation, delegating the distribution of his remaining wealth to his three children.

The Gates Foundation will still have substantial financial resources: its endowment was valued at nearly $90 billion at the end of last year, and Gates has pledged to donate almost all of his remaining fortune to the foundation.

In other news from the CNBC interview, Buffett disclosed that he had recently fractured his leg and undergone surgery, though he noted that his recovery is progressing well.

Buffett stated that he wishes his Berkshire shares to be distributed even more rapidly than he had previously indicated, specifically by the end of 2034.

To achieve this, he will need to substantially increase his annual donations, exceeding $17 billion per year.

He is currently allocating approximately $6 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and to the foundations managed by his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the Novo Foundation.

On Wednesday afternoon, Buffett submitted documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating that he had donated a total of 12 million Class B Berkshire shares to those foundations the previous day.

The bulk of this sum is destined for the foundation established in memory of his late wife, an organization that could soon rank among the world's largest of its kind.

Additionally, Buffett traditionally makes further contributions to his family foundations around Thanksgiving each year.

He has stated that after his death, a new foundation will be set up to distribute the remainder of his shares, and his children must reach a unanimous agreement on where to donate them.

He hopes his children can make these decisions before they die or become senile, noting that his eldest daughter will be nearly 81 in eight years.

The accelerated timeline of Buffett's plan to distribute his wealth over the next eight years, rather than within the decade following his death, means that Greg Abel, his successor at Berkshire Hathaway, will not be able to rely on the backing of Buffett's family as the company's largest shareholder for as long as he had anticipated.

Buffett currently commands nearly 30% of the voting power through his 188,290 Class A shares.

Nevertheless, Buffett stated that he is convinced Abel is the right person to lead the conglomerate he built, adding that "that becomes more evident by the day."

Buffett did, however, note that Berkshire's substantial investment in Google's parent company—which has appreciated considerably over the past year—was one he initiated, not an investment selected by Abel, although Abel concurred with the decision.

Just last month, Berkshire agreed to invest an additional $10 billion in Alphabet, having previously tripled its stake in the firm.

___ A previous version of this story misspelled Warren Buffett's last name in the headline.