Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates
Lacy O’Toole | CNBC
But in a major article this week, the Times says that over the past two years there has been “a growing backlash from the billionaires who are the targeted donors,” including a “quiet campaign by a pro-Trump tech billionaire to destroy it.”
Peter Thiel tells the Times that he privately encouraged about a dozen signatories to revoke their pledges. “Most of those I spoke to expressed at least some regret over the signing.”
Peter Thiel
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
While the Times says Thiel was not involved, Coinbase Co-founder Brian Armstrong, “an outspoken crypto executive who now displays a disdain for liberal politics,” voluntarily left the group in 2024 without a public explanation.
Next year, Oracles Larry Ellison, one of the first signatories, announced that he would “amend” his pledge to provide some money for for-profit initiatives that the pledge does not cover.
More than 250 families are listed on the Giving Pledge website, but the number of new additions has slowed. In the first five years, 113 joined. In the second five years the number dropped to 72, and in the following five years only 43 signed.
The Times quotes Aaron Horvath, a sociologist who has studied the pledge, as saying it is a “time capsule” of the 2010s that now feels “dated.”
He says billionaires now think, “I can keep calm and keep making money. I don’t have to put up with this charity charade anymore.”
The Times adds that in an “era of increasingly insatiable capitalism” in which “billionaires are following the right trend and getting ahead by supporting a government that likes to hand out favors,” many of them believe that “the real way to give back is through business success” that boosts the economy.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong speaks on CNBC’s Squawk Box before the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2025.
Gerry Miller | CNBC
Another downside to the pledge, according to the newspaper, is the damage to Gates’ reputation due to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Thiel calls the Pledge an “Epstein-adjacent, fake boomer club,” although the Times notes that he has his own ties to Epstein.
The Giving Pledge was also criticized from the left.
Last summer, a report from the Institute for Policy Studies said it was “unfulfilled, unattainable and not our ticket to a fairer, better future.”
A Pledge spokesperson called the report “misleading” due to incomplete data.
Taryn Jensen, who leads the Giving Pledge for the Gates Foundation, tells the Times: “In its early years, the Giving Pledge helped create norms where few existed. Our goal is to continue to build a culture where giving is the norm and to provide the support that helps turn commitment into action.”
And in the Times article, Ron Conway, described as a venture capitalist close to Bill Gates, rejects accusations that the Pledge is “aligned with, or so to speak woke to, liberal causes,” saying there are many conservatives and moderates.
Buffett remembers his annoyance at commas in his annual letters
Buffett was also quoted in another major publication this week.
The Wall Street Journal reported on the CEOs who were inspired by Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders, which used humor and personal anecdotes to “upend a dreary convention of corporate America and set a new standard.”
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says he always tries to emulate Buffett’s ability to use clear language when explaining complex financial concepts, but admits that “it’s difficult.”
“I’ll be happy when it’s born,” he says of his own annual letter.
In a telephone interview with the newspaper, Buffett said he found it very difficult to accept feedback from former Fortune journalist and personal friend Carol Loomis, who edited his letters to shareholders from 1977 to 2024.
“My first reaction would be to be irritated, which is completely inappropriate,” but “that’s just how it is with writing.”
One of his biggest complaints was that Loomis added too many commas.
Now, he says, they play bridge online weekly, without any sharpness. “At 95, I’ve finally matured a bit.”
BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE ON THE INTERNET
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM CNBC’S BUFFETT ARCHIVE
Buffett on Charities: “Go with Your Gut” (2006)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Could you please help us rethink the capital allocation decisions we face when it comes to charitable giving? …
WARREN BUFFETT: It’s difficult to give other people advice on this. But you know, you have to choose the things that are important to you. And, you know, a lot of people – the majority in the United States – their church is. You know, more money is donated to churches than anything else.
For many people – a lot of people – it is their school or schools in general.
You know, I think you should largely choose what gives you the most satisfaction, and that’s probably going to be something that you know, something that maybe you yourself have benefited from.
I see it a little differently. The amount of funding also varies, but I like to think about things that are important but for which there is no natural funding loop.
But that’s not something that millions of people could use as an example or anything like that.
There’s nothing wrong with doing something that gives you a lot of personal satisfaction while also doing something good for other people.
So I wouldn’t hesitate – I wouldn’t necessarily feel like I need to be as objective about it as I would be when buying stocks or something like that. I would kind of go where my gut takes me and make it something you participate in.
And as I said, I think when you do it with large sums of money, you perhaps have a reason, perhaps even an obligation, to think about the extent to which really large sums of money can have an important impact on a social problem that might not otherwise attract attention. And, you know, that’s kind of where my own thinking takes me.
But I would – I would choose something where I felt like I knew where the money was going and I knew something good would come out of it. And perhaps by observing what happened I could make the next dose more efficient and beneficial than the last dose.
BERKSHIRE STOCK CLOCK
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BRK.A share price: $720,702.06
BRK.B share price: $480.94
BRK.BP/E (TTM): 15.50
Berkshire market cap: $1,036,964,141,358
Berkshire Cash as of December 31: $373.3 billion (down 2.2% from September 30)
Excluding rail cash and deducting T-bills payable: $369.0 billion (up 4.1% from September 30)
Berkshire resumed share repurchases on March 4, 2026.
(All figures are as of the date of publication unless otherwise stated)
BERKSHIRE’S TOP STOCK HOLDINGS – March 20, 2026
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Berkshire’s largest holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the US and Japan, by market value based on recent closing prices.
Holdings are as of September 30, 2025, as reflected in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing dated November 14, 2025, except for:
For the full list of holdings and current market values, visit CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Please send me questions or comments about the newsletter to alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (We’re sorry, but we don’t forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
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Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are also highly recommended reading. They are collected here on Berkshire’s website.
– Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
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