The friendship between Warren Buffet, one of the world’s biggest and successful investors, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates goes back decades. Together they started ‘The Giving Pledge’. This is a campaign to motivate billionaires to donate their wealth. Buffett himself has been the founding trustee of the Gates Foundation and had donated Rs 3.46 lakh crore to it by 2022. But this year the story changed. Buffett did not give anything to the Gates Foundation. Instead, 95-year-old Buffett handed over Berkshire Hathaway’s shares worth about $ 6 billion (57,600 crores) to four foundations related to his family. There is a special reason for this. The Gates Foundation has called in external lawyers and started an investigation. It is being investigated what connections the Foundation had with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Buffett is waiting for the results of this investigation. That’s why he stopped donating to the foundation. The real story takes an interesting turn from here. Buffett had clearly stated in an interview given to CNBC in March this year that he no longer talks to Gates. He said, ‘We spent a lot of time together, but until this matter is not cleared, I don’t think it is right to talk much.’ Gates testified before a US congressional committee last month that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. Buffett also clarified that he never met Epstein. He never spoke to Gates about the controversy because he did not want to be called to testify on the Gates-Epstein relationship. However, despite age and this controversy, Buffett’s charity has not diminished. Buffett has said that he fully expects his three children to distribute their entire stake in Berkshire Hathaway by 2034. Buffett, owner of assets worth Rs 31 lakh crore, has stepped down from the board of the foundation. The total value of Berkshire Hathaway is estimated at around 1.1 trillion dollars (Rs 105.7 lakh crore). Buffet’s stake in this is about 30%. That means the value of his stake alone is Rs 31.7 lakh crore. Buffett resigned from the board of the Gates Foundation in 2021. But since then he continued donating thousands of crores of rupees every year. But this year he broke this trend.
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