The Billionaire Civil War: Warren Buffett Defends Charity Against Conservative Backlash

The retired Berkshire Hathaway legend says the Giving Pledge is “quite a success,” despite Peter Thiel’s campaign urging signers to retract their support.

BY KEVIN HAYNES, NEWS WRITER

Undeterred by recent conservative backlash to the charitable enterprise he and Bill Gates started in 2010, Warren Buffet has reaffirmed his faith in the Giving Pledge, the movement that asks billionaires to promise to donate the bulk of their wealth to worthy nonprofit organizations in their lifetime.

“I firmly believe in the Giving Pledge and consider it quite a success, though my physical limitations have eliminated my participation in the annual get-together,” Buffett, 95, said in an email to The New York Times. “I have continued to contact possible members but only on a minor scale in recent years. Bill Gates has continued major efforts.”

Last Sunday, the Times chronicled a push led by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel to get Giving Pledge signers to retract their commitment and steer potential recruits away from the initiative. “Most of the ones I’ve talked to have at least expressed regret about signing it,” said Thiel, who reportedly urged Elon Musk to renege on his 2012 commitment, claiming his money would support “left-wing nonprofits that will be chosen by Bill Gates.”

Thiel and other billionaires who have closely aligned themselves with the Trump administration contend “the real way to give back is via business success” that pumps up the economy. “My businesses,” said Musk, “are philanthropy.”

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Both men are also among the growing number of billionaires who are funneling more money than ever into elections.

More than 250 ultra-wealthy families from 30 countries have signed the Giving Pledge to date, including former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

One billionaire who has already quietly dropped out is Coinbase co-founder Brian Armstrong, whose 2019 commitment letter disappeared from the Pledge’s website in 2024. A year later, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who was among the earliest signers, announced on X that he was “amending” his pledge, preferring to channel some of his money into for-profit ventures.

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