From ‘unbelievable friendship’ to growing tensions: The rise and fall of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s 30-year bond

The relationship had an unlikely start on July 5, 1991, when Gates and Buffett first crossed paths.

At the time, neither seemed particularly eager to meet the other, according to Business Insider.

The encounter happened through the late Washington Post editor Meg Greenfield, a family friend of the Gates family, who was visiting Seattle along with her close friend Buffett and Katharine Graham, the Post publisher who presided over its Watergate reporting.

Gates’ mother, Mary, invited the group to her home and encouraged her then-35-year-old son to join. He resisted at first, uninterested in taking time off work and skeptical of Buffett, whom he dismissed as a “stockbroker.”

“I thought, ‘Hey this guy buys and sells things, and so he found imperfections in terms of markets, that’s not value added to society, that’s a zero-sum game that is almost parasitic.’” Gates would later recall at a 2019 conference, as quoted by CNBC.

Buffett, likewise, was uninterested. “While we’re driving down there, I said, ‘What the hell are we going to spend all day doing with these people? How long do we have to stay to be polite?” he recounted years later.

Yet the meeting turned out to be a pleasant surprise for both as they quickly connected and found themselves deep in conversation.

Gates was impressed by Buffett’s sharp questions, like “If you were building IBM from scratch, how would it look different?” He even urged Buffett to invest in Intel and Microsoft.

An ‘unbelievable friendship’

US billionaire investor Warren Buffett (L) and Microsoft founder Bill Gates (R) flip over their Dairy Queen Blizzard treats, at the opening of a new Dairy Queen branch in Beijing on Sept. 30, 2010. Photo by AFP

What began as an unlikely connection quickly blossomed into an enduring friendship. They often visited each other and appeared together at public events, such as a 2008 basketball game in Las Vegas.

Gates would fly to Omaha a few times a year on his private jet to spend time with Buffett, who occasionally drove to pick the former up at the airport, as reported by the New York Times.

Although Buffett attended several Microsoft events, he never invested in the company or joined its board, later explaining in 2018 that doing so would have posed a conflict of interest given his friendship with Gates.

Gates, on the other hand, accepted a seat on the board of the legendary investor’s Berkshire Hathaway in 2004, an appointment Buffett described as an “act of friendship.” By that time, he had stepped down as Microsoft’s CEO but continued as its chairman.

Their bond extended beyond business. In 2010, the duo, along with Gates’ then-wife Melinda French Gates, co-founded The Giving Pledge, a campaign encouraging billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth that has since amassed over $600 billion in pledges.

“As an adult, one of my biggest influences has been Warren Buffett,” Gates wrote on his blog—Gates Notes, calling Buffett “the ultimate model of generosity.”

“He was the first one who introduced me to the idea of giving everything away, and he’s been incredibly generous to the foundation over the decades.”

Buffett, in turn, donated over $39 billion to the Gates Foundation between 2006 and 2023, roughly equal to the combined amount Gates and Melinda gave between 1994 and 2022.

The two also shared a love of simple pleasures, including bridge, golf, and American cuisine. Gates frequently blogged about their quirky outings, like visiting a candy store or escaping from a Berkshire annual meeting to work at Dairy Queen.

Once, reflecting on their first encounter, Gates described their relationship as an “unbelievable friendship.”

Buffett, in response, humorously noted: “The moral of that is, listen to your mother.”

Cracks appearing

Despite years of camaraderie, signs of strain in their friendship began to emerge in recent years, stemming from fundamental differences between the two, particularly in how they chose to spend their wealth.

Buffett, known for his frugality, still lives in the modest Omaha home he bought in 1958 for $31,500—around $342,000 in today’s dollars. He has long shunned luxury, saying he never saw the need for multiple houses or cars, though he has allowed himself the occasional indulgence.

Gates, by contrast, embraces the trappings of billionaire life, maintaining several properties, private jets, a large art collection and a sizable team to manage them.

Over time, sources familiar with the relationship said Buffett grew upset with certain aspects of Gates’ conduct, including his management of the Gates Foundation.

Buffett viewed the foundation as complacent, unwilling to take risks that could make its philanthropy more effective. He was also upset to hear that some people found Gates rude, a departure from Buffett’s frequent advice to him to be mindful of how he treats and is perceived by close friends and colleagues.

Gates’ reputation took another hit following revelations that he had met several times with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Gates later acknowledged the meetings were a “huge mistake” and said they were for philanthropic goals.

In 2020, Gates stepped down from the boards of both Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway. He divorced Melinda the following year. Not long after, Buffett resigned as a trustee of the Gates Foundation, as reported by Reuters.

Buffett then announced in 2023 that he planned to leave his remaining wealth to his three children to give away after his death.

Buffett made his position clear in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last June: “The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death.”

Gates, meanwhile, has made few references to Buffett on his blog in recent years. A few posts in 2021-22 mentioned the investor but mostly focused on business. He did not refer to Buffett in any 2023 post and only named him in 2024 to discuss philanthropy.

Nonetheless, when Buffett announced a record $6 billion donation in Berkshire stock to five charities last Friday, the largest recipient was the Gates Foundation, which received shares valued at about $4.6 billion. The rest went to four family charities, including those led by his three children.

Before this, a spokesperson for the foundation told Forbes that Buffett “has been exceedingly generous to the Gates Foundation through more than 18 years of contributions and advice.”

“He has played an invaluable role in championing and shaping the foundation’s work to create a world where every person can live a healthy, productive life,” the person said.

Gates once shared in a 2016 blog post reflecting on his friendship with Buffett that he has learned many things from him over their decades-long friendship.

“But maybe the most important thing is what friendship is all about,” Gates said. “Everyone should be lucky enough to have a friend who is as thoughtful and kind as Warren.”