{"id":331377,"date":"2026-04-21T20:38:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/gates-foundation-reviewing-jeffrey-epstein-ties-will-slash-20-of-staff-wsj-reports.html"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:38:37","slug":"gates-foundation-reviewing-jeffrey-epstein-ties-will-slash-20-of-staff-wsj-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/gates-foundation-reviewing-jeffrey-epstein-ties-will-slash-20-of-staff-wsj-reports.html","title":{"rendered":"Gates Foundation reviewing Jeffrey Epstein ties, will slash 20% of staff, WSJ reports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"MainContent\">\n<header class=\"ArticleHeader-articleHeader\" id=\"main-article-header\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Author-authorPortrait\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/87af2065_105386930-1533817297076img_2358.jpg\" alt=\"thumbnail\" \/><span>WATCH LIVE<\/span><\/header>\n<p><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">The Gates Foundation<\/a> has launched an external review of the philanthropy&#8217;s past ties with notorious sex offender <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a> reported Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>To cut costs, the Gates Foundation will eliminate up to 500 jobs, or about 20% of its staff, by 2030, the Journal reported, citing an email to staff that the newspaper reviewed announcing both the job cuts and Epstein ties review.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a challenging time for our organization in many ways, but it also highlights the critical importance of taking the tough actions now,&#8221; Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman reportedly said in the memo.<\/p>\n<p>The Journal said the foundation, which has a 2026 budget of about $9 billion, plans to cap operating expenses at $1.25 billion.<\/p>\n<p>The Gates Foundation was founded by <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-4\">Microsoft<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"><\/span><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> co-founder <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Bill Gates<\/a> and his ex-wife, <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Melinda Gates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Gates is scheduled to be <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">interviewed about Epstein<\/a> on June 10 by the <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">House Oversight and Government Reform Committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Gates Foundation didn&#8217;t immediately respond to a phone call and email seeking comment.<\/p>\n<p>In February, Bill Gates apologized to the foundation&#8217;s staff for his association with Epstein and admitted having affairs with two Russian women, which Epstein learned of, <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">the Journal<\/a> previously reported.<\/p>\n<p>Gates told staff, &#8220;I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,&#8221; the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n<p>Gates became friends with Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for  prostitution.<\/p>\n<p>Epstein killed himself in August 2019, while in a New York City federal jail, weeks after his arrest on child sex trafficking charges.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-10\">Berkshire Hathaway<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"><\/span><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> Chairman <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Warren Buffett<\/a> told CNBC in March that he has not spoken to Gates since details of Epstein&#8217;s communications with Gates were revealed in documents released by Congress and by the Justice Department.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to be in a position where I know things &#8230; to be called as a witness,&#8221; said Buffett, who since 2006 has donated more than $43 billion to the Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Read the <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">full Wall Street Journal article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Article source: https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/04\/21\/gates-foundation-jeffrey-epstein-jobs-cuts.html<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WATCH LIVE The Gates Foundation has launched an external review of the philanthropy&#8217;s past ties with notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. To cut costs, the Gates Foundation will eliminate up to 500 jobs, or about 20% of its staff, by 2030, the Journal reported, citing an email to staff [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-331377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}