Bill Gates speaks at the Gates Foundation’s first Nordic global goalkeeping event on January 22, 2026 in Stockholm, Sweden.
TT News Agency | Stefan Gelevang | Via Reuters
The Gates Foundation has launched an external investigation into the charity’s past ties to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
In an effort to cut costs, the Gates Foundation plans to cut up to 500 jobs, or about 20% of its staff, by 2030, the newspaper reported, citing an email to staff seen by the newspaper announcing the cuts and a review of its relationship with Epstein.
“While this is a difficult time for our organization in many ways, it also highlights the critical importance of taking tough action now,” Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, said in a memo.
The foundation has a budget of about $9 billion in 2026 and plans to cap operating expenses at $1.25 billion, the paper said.
The Gates Foundation was founded by microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates and ex-wife Melinda Gates.
Gates is scheduled to be questioned about Epstein by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on June 10.
“For context, as we pointed out to the Journal, none of the ‘announcements’ contained in the article published today are new,” the Gates Foundation said in an email to CNBC.
The foundation pointed to press releases released earlier this year about the budget cap and review of Epstein’s relationship with the foundation, which it said were “included in an update from CEO Mark Suzman to all Foundation staff on a variety of topics related to Foundation operations.”
The paper previously reported that Bill Gates apologized to foundation officials in February for his relationship with Epstein and admitted to having had affairs with two Russian women known to Epstein.
“I didn’t do anything illegal. I didn’t see anything illegal,” Gates told staff, according to the newspaper.
Gates became friends with Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in a Florida court to soliciting underage girls into prostitution.
Epstein committed suicide in a federal prison in New York City in August 2019, weeks after being arrested on child sex trafficking charges.
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett told CNBC in March that he had not spoken to Gates since details of Epstein’s interactions with Gates were revealed in documents released by Congress and the Justice Department.
Buffett, who has donated more than $43 billion to the Gates Foundation since 2006, said: “I don’t want to be in a position where I’m called as a witness and know things.”
Read the full Wall Street Journal article here.
