Warren Edward Buffett (30 August 1930) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He’s one of the world’s top investors with a net worth of over $103 billion as of August 2022, making him the seventh wealthiest in the world.
Early Life
Warren Edward Buffett was born on 30 August 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. He went to Rose Hill Elementary School and Alice Deal Junior High School. In 1947, he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School.
From a young age, he sold chewing gum and soft drinks to earn money. In his teens, he was involved in a lot of money-making ventures, as well as saving and investing.
Buffett studied for two years at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947. After that, he went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he got a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
He earned a Master’s in economics from Columbia Business School in 1951. There, he had the chance to take classes from Benjamin Graham and David Dodd.
Career
He worked at Buffett-Falk & Co. as a salesman from 1951 to 1954. He had saved almost $10,000 by the time he was 20 – that shows what an astute investor he was.
In 1954, he was hired at Benjamin Graham’s partnership at $12,000 a year.
The Benjamin Graham Partnership closed in 1956 after Graham retired. By this time, Buffett had a lot of money in the bank, so he started Buffett Partnership Ltd., an investment partnership.
Then, he started operating a lot of other partnerships. As a result of all his partnerships, he became a millionaire in 1962.
He merged all the partnerships into one and started Berkshire Hathaway, a textile manufacturing company. In the early 1960s, he started buying Berkshire Hathaway shares aggressively and eventually took over.
In the late 1960s, he switched to insurance, and by 1985, Berkshire Hathaway had sold off all its textile mills.
Buffett became the director of Salomon Inc. after Berkshire Hathaway bought a 12% stake in 1987. Salomon Brothers’ CEO John Gutfreund left the company in 1991 after a scandal 1990. During the crisis, Buffett took over as chairman.
Buffett bought Coca-Cola Company stocks in 1988, eventually owning up to 7% of the company for $1.02 billion.
In 2002, he made $11 billion in forwarding contracts to deliver U.S. dollars against other currencies. He had earned over $2 billion by April 2006.
Warren Buffett announced in June 2006 that he was giving away 85% of Berkshire Holdings to five foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which would receive the biggest donation.
He became the richest person in the world in 2008, surpassing Bill Gates who had held the top spot-on Forbes’ list for 13 years. Forbes estimated his net worth at $62 billion. Soon after, Gates regained first place and Buffett moved up to second.
Awards
In 2011, President Barack Obama gave Warren Buffett the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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