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Why did Warren Buffett resign from Gates Foundation? Internet blames Bill Gates' past

Warren Buffett, 90, has contributed more than $27 billion as a trustee to Bill and Melinda Gates' Gates Foundation over a span of 15 years

Warren Buffett is set to resign as a trustee from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett's resignation comes at a time when the foundation is struggling to get on its feet after the upheaval created by Bill and Melinda's divorce. Bill and Melinda have announced that they would continue to run the foundation jointly, even after their divorce.

The Gates Foundation is one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. Buffett, 90, has contributed more than $27 billion of his own money as a trustee to the charity over a span of 15 years. Buffett announced the news of his resignation on Wednesday, June 23.

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In a statement released on Wednesday, Buffett said, "For years I have been a trustee, an inactive trustee at that, of only one recipient of my funds, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMG). I am now resigning from that post, just as I have done at all corporate boards other than Berkshire’s." In addition to resigning from the Gates Foundation, Buffett donated half of his Berkshire Hathaway shares to charity, giving a surplus sum of $4.1 billion to five foundations. The new development came merely weeks after Buffett was slammed for apparently 'avoiding taxes' as IRS leaks by ProPublica claimed he minimizes his personal tax bill by keeping his fortune in Berkshire Hathaway stock and not paying a dividend.

Buffett further said in his statement, "The CEO of BMG is Mark Suzman, an outstanding recent selection who has my full support. My goals are 100% in sync with those of the foundation, and my physical participation is in no way needed to achieve these goals." Buffett, who has resigned from all other corporate boards outside of Berkshire Hathaway in recent years, said he has no plans to step down from his role as CEO of Berkshire.

Why did Warren Buffett resign?

Buffett gave no apparent reason for his decision to resign from the Gates Foundation. Questions were raised though after reports of Bill Gates’ behavior in the workplace. It had recently come light that board members at Microsoft Corp made a decision in 2020 that it wasn’t appropriate for Gates, the company’s co-founder, to sit on its board as they investigated the billionaire’s alleged romantic relationship with a female Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said that they are not investigating some allegations made by "an anonymous former employee".

'He doesn't want any part of Gates past'

People came up with their own theories as to what caused Buffett's resignation. Some associated it with Gates 'scandalous' past and wrote, "If your smart Quit the Gates before it gets any worse than it already is," and "Guessing he doesn't want any part of Gates past!" One user even drew a connection between Bill Gates' closeness with Jeffrey Epstein being the reason for Buffett's resignation and wrote, "Just read on BNN that Warren Buffett resigns as a trustee from the Gates Foundation. Didn’t Gates just get divorced? I wonder why this is happening to Bill? Maybe something about Epstein Island?"

Another user took a dig on donations made by Buffett upon his resignation and wrote, "Warren Buffett is resigning from being Trustee of the Gates Foundation, yet also "donating" $4.1 billion to Gates Foundation, while also saying that although he has been a Gates Foundation Trustee for years, he's been an "inactive" Gates Foundation Trustee "for years.""