Buffett defends 'Giving Pledge' against Thiel and 'billionaire backlash' [View all]

Source: CNBC

Published Sat, Mar 21 2026 8:22 AM EDT


Warren Buffett is defending the philanthropic initiative he co-founded with Bill Gates almost 15 years ago as it faces what The New York Times calls a “billionaire backlash.”

Buffett wrote in an email to the newspaper, “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. “I have continued to contact possible members but only on a minor scale in recent years. Bill Gates has continued major efforts.”

In 2010, Buffett said he and Gates hoped to “establish a new norm” with the Pledge, which is a “promise by the world’s wealthiest philanthropists to give the majority of their wealth to charitable causes in their lifetime of wills.”

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 its target donors,” including a “quiet campaign by one pro-Trump tech billionaire to destroy it.”. Peter Thiel tells the Times he has privately encouraged around a dozen signers to cancel their pledges. “Most of the ones I’ve talked to have at least expressed regret about signing it.”

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/21/buffett-defends-giving-pledge-against-thiel-and-billionaire-backlash.html

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My dad had the Miles Davis "Live Evil" album (I think I still have it in a crate in the basement). It was this version -



Thiel is the personification of "live evil".