Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has stopped giving donations to Bill Gates’ charitable foundation weeks after the Microsoft co-founder detailed his links to the dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buffett “irrevocably” committed in 2006 to donate shares in his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, each year to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as it was then known “throughout my lifetime”.

But on Thursday, the Gates Foundation was left off the list of firms that will receive billions of dollars worth of stock.

The stock will instead be split between four foundations involving members of the Buffett family. The 95-year-old said he will dispose of his remaining stock over the next eight years.

“Of course, mortality is unpredictable,” said Buffett. “But my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by 31 December, 2034.”

Gates’ association with Epstein was revealed when the US Department of Justice released files in January.

Buffett did not mention Gates or Epstein by name in his statement regarding his donations.

But in March, he told CNBC, external that he had not spoken to Gates “since the whole thing was unveiled”.

He added: “I don’t want to be in a position where I know things… to be called as a witness.”

The Gates Foundation has been contacted for comment.

In June, Gates appeared before the US House Oversight Committee to answer questions about his relationship with Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

In a transcript of his testimony, Gates said that he had been introduced to Epstein in 2011 on the premise that he could raise billions of dollars for global health – a key focus of the foundation.

“I recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues, but I did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed,” Gates said.

Three years earlier, Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution.

Gates told the committee: “I should never have met with Epstein in the first place. Based on what I know now, I understand that even if he had delivered the donors he promised, it would not have justified associating with him.”

Buffett was an enthusiastic supporter of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, stating in 2006 he “greatly” admired what it was accomplishing and promised to make yearly donations.

In 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates and Buffett started the Giving Pledge, which aimed to get extraordinarily wealthy people to give away the majority of their fortune during their lifetime or in their will.

Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

Melinda French Gates resigned in 2024 from the foundation she co-founded and said that she would donate $1bn to help women’s rights in the US.

Best Buy issued a recall on two models of Insignia gas range stoves after a report that the stoves can be activated by accidental contact with knobs, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

The Chinese-manufactured Insignia Front Control Gas Ranges received the recall on Thursday. The recall affected 3,820 units sold in the U.S. 

The recall affects two models of the Insignia Front Control Gas Ranges: the models NS-RGFGSS1 and NS-RGFCGS2. 

“The recalled ranges are stainless steel with five front-knobs on the oven with the ‘Insignia’ label on the bottom of the oven door,” the recall reads.

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Consumers are advised to stop using the product immediately and visit Best Buy’s website to receive a free set of gas knob covers.

“Consumers are cautioned to keep children and pets away from the knobs, to check the range knobs to ensure they are off before leaving home or going to bed, and not to leave objects on the range when the range is not in use,” according to the Safety Commission.

MILLIONS OF PRESCRIPTION EYE DROPS RECALLED NATIONWIDE OVER CONTAMINATION CONCERNS

Despite the recall, no injuries have been reported from use of the Insignia ovens.

Best Buy has been selling the in-house Insignia ovens since 2020, and they can retail from anywhere between $280 and $1,470.

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Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
BBY	BEST BUY CO. INC.	81.65	-1.15	-1.39%

FOX Business contacted Best Buy for comment. 

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday proposed allowing mutual funds, insurance companies and pension funds to retain a standing approval to acquire higher stakes in the same bank without seeking fresh regulatory clearance each time their holdings fall below the 5% threshold.

The move is aimed at easing the regulatory compliance for large institutional investors already having significant holding in a bank. Significant investor is the one which has at any point of time a minimum 5% holding.

The one-time approval would remain valid unless revoked, the central bank said in a draft amendments on acquisition and holding of shares or voting rights, inviting public comments by August 4, 2026. The draft covers regulations for commercial banks, small finance banks, payments banks and local area banks.

Once approved, the directions would come into effect immediately, RBI said.

The one-time approval can be used by existing significant investors for further acquiring up to 10% of the paid-up share capital or voting rights in a bank, the RBI said.

The decision was taken following representations received from asset management companies “in order to simplify approval process for subsequent acquisitions of major shareholding in a banking company by mutual funds, insurance companies and pension funds,” the regulator said.

One of America’s most popular fast-food chains is under scrutiny as federal and state health officials investigate whether Taco Bell locations may be connected to a rapidly growing cyclosporiasis outbreak.

Federal and state health agencies are investigating whether Taco Bell locations may have contributed to a widespread outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a gastrointestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite, according to two anonymous sources familiar with the investigation who spoke to The Washington Post.

In recent days, multiple local and national news outlets reported that signs appeared at Detroit-area Taco Bell restaurants notifying customers that the locations could not serve lettuce, cilantro onions, pico de gallo or guacamole because of “a national recall.”

TACO BELL RAMPS UP VOICE A.I. USE ACROSS NEARLY 900 DRIVE-THRUS

Neither Taco Bell, its parent company Yum! Brands, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, nor the Department of Health and Human Services immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The FDA has not announced a recall involving Taco Bell, and its website does not include any public notice mentioning Taco Bell in connection with the outbreak.

Cyclosporiasis cases are rising across America, with more than 2,600 cases reported in Michigan. This is the largest outbreak of its kind in Michigan’s history and one of the country’s largest in years, according to the Associated Press.

A press release from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Monday: “While the investigation is ongoing, current results point to lettuce or salad greens as a potential source for this outbreak, although other food items cannot be completely ruled out. No specific type of produce, grower or supplier has been identified as the source.”

The parasitic infection can cause weeks of watery, “explosive” diarrhea. The source of the outbreak has not been identified, and no deaths have been reported.

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Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky. Yum! Brands also owns KFC, Pizza Hut and The Habit Burger & Grill.

Taco Bell operates more than 8,700 locations worldwide, according to its website, and serves more than 40 million customers each week in the United States.

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Fox News’ Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.

Iain Mansfield is looking to double the mutual’s commercial lending book to support the delivery of much needed new housing stock

Chief executive of Principality Building Society Iain Mansfield has outlined plans to double its commercial lending to support much-needed new housing development to more than £2bn, while saying that despite advances in its digital offering, he cannot foresee a time when the mutual does not have a high street branch presence.

Cardiff-born Mr Mansfield, who took up his role at the UK’s sixth biggest mutual last November, succeeding Julie-Ann Haines and having previously been chief financial officer, said its three-year naming rights extension with the WRU for the Principality Stadium will further deepen brand recognition of the mutual and its products.

Mr Mansfield, 50, a chartered accountant who spent 20 years in London across retail banking, consumer financial services and private equity, as well as a two-year stint working at steelmaker Corus before its acquisition by Tata, described Principality as a “Welsh heritage business” but with plans to grow its savings customers and commercial lending clients across the UK.

Principality has assets of £14.1bn and employs 1,100 people. On his role, Mr Mansfield, who is also chairman of business membership body CBI Wales, said: “It’s about providing the services that a modern mutual should to as many people as we possibly can. The amount of people saving in the UK is relatively low and the number of people with just £100 of savings is a frightening statistic. I feel my job of getting people to save to buy their own homes is probably as challenging as it has ever been.

“So, it is about being open-minded and giving people a reason to save for resilience. Whether that is for a washing machine, a car or a holiday, I don’t really mind, as long as we bring that funding together to ensure that we can create home ownership, or develop new homes, so people can buy them either through a social housing relationship that we have, a mortgage property, or through buy-to-let investments.”

While more than 90% of it lending comes from savings deposits, it does rely on wholesale money markets. Last year it finalised its first covered bond, with the inaugural £500m issuance at the start of this year on a five-year floating rate secured against residential mortgages.

Principality now sees covered bonds as central to its wholesale funding plans and expects to be in the market annually under a more than £4bn programme.

Mr Mansfield, who attended Corpus Christi Catholic High School and St David’s Sixth Form College in Cardiff and first joined the mutual in 2015 as finance director of its secured lending venture Nemo Personal Finance, said: “Our model is acquiring savings through our branch network and evolving and improving our digital franchise.

“We want to ensure that we have got flexibility in our wholesale markets with our securitisation programme and a covered bond programme which commenced at the beginning of this year. That gives us the ability to go into the market once and get a relatively cost-effective and big chunk of funds that mature five years out. What we’re not saying is that we have to go into wholesale markets to any greater extent.

“We were created to help people save and we would like that percentage (saving deposits to fund its mortgages and commercial lending) to be as high as we possibly can. As the business grows, there is real benefit in having some wholesale funding as it gives us access relatively quickly and effectively to a big chunk of five-year money.”

The mutual holds saving deposits with a value of around £11bn. Mr Mansfield said: “The vast majority of that links to a branch. Last year we opened 175,000 new accounts and two-thirds of that was through a digital route.

“We have half a million savings accounts, but new accounts are different to members, who will have multiple numbers of accounts. We have invested heavily in our website, so the route to be able to get access to our rates has increased, and our expectation is that we will have an app by the end of the year in what will be a big digital shift.”

Principality has 54 branches, although one in St David’s Shopping Centre in the centre of Cardiff is due to close, and a presence at 16 agencies across Wales and the English borders. That comes with significant fixed costs of maintaining its branch presence.

Has he, the management team and the board appraised a time when it might no longer require a high street presence due to a wider take-up of digital services?

Mr Mansfield said: “I think it is highly unlikely that we would be a digital-only business as we have a community and heritage in Wales. There is a broader piece here as well around alignment with what we are trying to do. Of course, more people over time will effectively save through digital routes, but what we don’t want to do is alienate people who want to come into a branch.”

He said the branch “human touch” of the mutual sector provides a point of difference to banks, where there has been a significant reduction in high street branches in recent years.

He added: “We have the largest branch network in the financial services sector in Wales. We are committed to our communities and I think our branch colleagues also want to bring in digital customers. Our mortgage business and savings franchise is right across the UK from a digital perspective, but longstanding members have historically opened their accounts through a branch.”

He does not like to distinguish between the mutual’s Cardiff city centre head office, Principality House, which houses around 900 hybrid working staff, and its branches and agencies with around 300 employees.

He explained: “We made some operational changes around 18 months ago and put some of the tasks of our head office into those branches. Our amazing branch colleagues have been really receptive to being able to do multiple things, which is to serve our customers who walk in, but also to do some of the work a traditional head office call centre would do. So, we are utilising our branches to do more.”

However, staff numbers remain under review. He said: “As an organisation where the world is changing as quickly as it is, we should be making sure that our model is appropriate and understanding what that looks like into the future.

“The strategy that we want to build for this organisation is being a highly relevant, customer-focused business fit for the future. We need to invest in our business and it is really important that we have the right mix of skills and level of investment.”

Commercial lending

Mr Mansfield is upbeat on the prospects for the mutual’s commercial lending, which is mainly centred around supporting housing development. He explained: “On commercial lending, we have a lent book of £900m and commitments of £1.1bn, where we have agreed contracts with people but they have not yet drawn down, so there is a big pipeline of opportunity.

“We would like to double the size of the business (commercial lending) to £2bn-plus. Why is this really important? Because it is bang on what we do.

“We lend around a third of the book, and a growing percentage, to housing associations, which aligns with our strategy and purpose. We provide finance to around 20 of the 30 housing associations in Wales and a handful in England.

“So that side is growing and we are helping housing associations develop new properties so people who are struggling with affordability can get on the housing ladder in some description.

“There is also lending for residential investment and material landlords where they have an estate which provides property into the rental market for those who don’t want to buy. A third, and again growing, is residential development. So how do we support those investors who want to grow and build homes from the ground up? “We have also worked really hard in the last two years to build relationships with councils across Wales and Welsh Government (the Plaid administration has a target of 20,000 new social homes by 2030). We are sitting here ready to work with Welsh Government, councils and whoever else to provide capital.”

In Cardiff, through a joint venture vehicle with Welsh Government, Tirion, Principality’s lending helped to derisk the Mill development, which has delivered around 800 new homes – half for the open market and the rest social housing and mixed tenure – around the former Wiggins Teape paper mill site in Ely. He sees potential for Principality to deploy more commercial lending for similar partnership approaches, which would also have the benefit of putting less strain on Welsh Government’s constrained budget to fund social housing with the option of it providing guarantees.

He said: “The reason that worked [the Mill], and why it is important to replicate, was getting the right group of stakeholders together for a site that would not have been able to be developed just with a commercial developer, as it was an industrial site that needed remediation. What we were able to do, by getting the right structure in place with Welsh Government, was to write initial loans to be able to do that work, which meant a developer could come in and could see a route to development.

“We would like to have more relationships with regional housing developers. That would give us the ability to work on larger projects and help the Welsh Government reach the 20,000 new homes target by the end of the decade.”

Future office requirement

The mutual looked at a number of locations for a possible smaller head office building. Last year it was close to signing a lease to occupy space at the 1 Callaghan Square office building, covering floors released by law firm Eversheds Sutherland after its decision to reduce its footprint in the building. However, that space has now been taken by British Gas.

There is currently a lack of grade A office space in the city. Any new speculative development, with high construction costs, would require a significant increase in the headline rent for the city and moving closer to the more than £50 per sq ft in Bristol. While no longer actively in themarket for a new head office, it remains a longer-term option for the mutual.

Mr Mansfield said: “Because this is such a great location, you have to be 100% sure it is the right place. We want just a few floors and getting people into one area and having staff working through processes seamlessly.

“My responsibility is that the balance sheet assets of this organisation are protected. So, we have been transparent with colleagues that the long-term strategy is to find an alternative home for this business, but we are not rushing into that.

“My other job is to ensure that we are looking after the assets, and one of the ways to look at this building [Principality House] is to understand the process so we can potentially get planning permission to put us into that position. If you have got that, then you have a potential business case.” Assuming it could find the right property, with a requirement of around 40,000sq ft, what redevelopment options could there be for Principality House?

Mr Mansfield said: “It has to be something that aligns 100% with the purpose of our business. So, if in the future we get the alchemy of finding a location and an option to do something, we would ensure that, subject to its commercial viability and protecting our members’ interests, there is a sustainability of purpose, so there would be a housing element.”

The mutual also owns a number of buildings around its head office at the Friary. The chief executive said that if Principality House is redeveloped, the mutual would not seek to be the developer, but a funder through its commercial lending arm.

Principality Stadium deal

In 2015, Principality entered into a 10-year naming rights deal with the WRU which renamed the Millennium Stadium the Principality Stadium. The value of the deal was not disclosed, but it is believed to have been around £12.5m with annual payments.

It was extended by a year due to the pandemic. The value of the extension, to 2030, has also not been disclosed, but provides some uplift on the 2015 deal, although it is pretty much static when accounting for inflation.

Asked if there could be a further extension – assuming there isn’t commercial interest from elsewhere – Mr Mansfield said: “It is way too early to say what the future looks like. The importance of the stadium for us is several-fold.

“Number one, our brand awareness has increased, with awareness in Wales, prompted and unprompted, continuing to be positive on the back of the stadium, which is key for us.

“We have a desire to grow our business, yes in Wales but outside too, so it is a shop window for our ambition. There are a million people a year who walk into or around it. For us, that is a massive opportunity to engage with existing members, but it also gives us visibility across the UK and beyond.”

On whether there is an element of confusion, as some might think it refers to an outdated and historic reference to Wales being a principality rather than a building society, he said: “We have a real ability to springboard this, and one of the focus areas through our strong relationship with the WRU, is to ensure that in all of our campaigns we get that connection between the Principality Stadium and Principality Building Society.”

On current trading he said: “From February to half year it was very challenging to price because of what has gone on in the Middle East. And that has meant the swap rates and the route through which we price our savings and mortgage business has been hugely volatile.

“Our teams have had to work very hard to continue to price practically and effectively through that period. Irrespective of that, we are not far off the plan that we expected and there is no reason to believe that we will not get to where we need to by the end of the year from a retail mortgage perspective.”