Warren Edward Buffett is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Buffett became known throughout the world due to the fact that the shares of the company under his leadership - Berkshire Hathaway - have been growing for more than 50 years by an average of 20% per year! Through smart company buying and wise investments, Warren Buffett became one of the richest people on the planet and made millions of investors rich.
Buffett has donated money to charity for most of his life. In 2006, Warren Buffett pledged to give 99% of his wealth to charity by donating his shares in Berkshire Hathaway. To date, Buffett has already donated $41 billion, most of it to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Biography
- Born in Omaha , Nebraska. The name of the city became known as the “Oracle of Omaha.” His father Howard was a congressman when Warren was 12 years old.
- In his youth, he sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola bottles and magazines, as well as golf balls, and worked in his father's store.
- In 1947 he entered the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, but then transferred to the University of Nebraska . In 1951 he received a master's degree in economics from Columbia University .
Who is Warren Buffett
- Warren Buffett, known as the "Wizard of Omaha", is one of the most successful investors on the planet.
- Buffett runs the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, which includes more than 60 companies, such as insurance company Geico, battery manufacturer Duracell, railroad BNSF, etc.
- The son of a US congressman, Buffett bought his first stock at the age of 11, and at the age of 13 he filled out his first income tax return.
- In 2010, Buffett launched the Giving Pledge campaign with Bill Gates to encourage billionaires to donate half of their wealth to charity.
- Warren Buffett's age is 90 years old
- The Source of Warren Buffett's Wealth - Berkshire Hathaway
- Warren Buffett's place of residence is USA, Omaha (Nebraska)
- Citizenship of Warren Buffett - USA
- Warren Buffett's marital status: Widower, remarried
- Warren Buffett has 3 children
- Education Warren Buffett - Bachelor of Arts/Science, University of Nebraska at Lincoln; M.S., Columbia University
Rational people don't risk what they have for what they don't have and don't really need.
Warren Buffett
Business
- Buffett Partnership Ltd in 1956. It bought textile manufacturer Berkshire Hathaway and adopted its name, forming a holding company.
- In 1962 he became a dollar millionaire. Became a billionaire in 1990.
- Berkshire has grown into one of the world's leading It owns more than 60 businesses, including battery manufacturer Duracell and a stake in Apple .
- Buffett is famous for his annual letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, in which he shares the company's results, explains the steps it has taken and the deals it has made, and also gives forecasts for how the market situation will develop in the future.
- Every year, Buffett organized a meeting of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders in Omaha - the so-called "Woodstock for capitalists."
Personal life of Warren Buffett
In 1949, young Warren became infatuated with a girl whose boyfriend played a miniature ukulele guitar. In an attempt to compete with his rival, he also acquired one of these musical instruments and learned to play it. And although he failed to win the beauty’s heart then, his love for playing the ukulele became a part of his life.
Warren Buffett with his first wife and children
At age 22, he married Susan Thompson. The couple raised three children - Susie, Howard and Peter, but after 25 years of marriage they began to live separately, although they did not officially divorce. In 2004, Susan died of cancer, and 2 years later the financier remarried his longtime friend Astrid Menks. He was 76 years old then, and his bride was 60.
The oligarch is unpretentious in everyday life, conservative, loves to play bridge, allegedly spending at least 12 hours a week on this activity. He is a devoted fan of Nebraska football, where he was named an honorary assistant coach.
The head of the financial empire lives in the central district of his hometown in a house purchased back in 1958 for $31.5 thousand. In addition, he owns a $4 million home in Laguna Beach, California. In 1989, he bought a personal jet for $6.7 million, but later called this acquisition an unjustified waste of money.
Warren Buffett and Astrid Menks
After his son's adopted daughter, his beloved granddaughter Nicole, starred in Jamey Johnson's documentary The One Percent, which chronicled the brutal financial stratification of society, Warren disowned her relationship and withdrew financial assistance.
In April 2012, one of the most famous investors in the world fell ill with prostate cancer. Doctors successfully completed the treatment of this serious disease in September of the same year.
Personal life
- In 1952, he married Susan Thompson, whose father was the dean of the University of Nebraska and once managed the election campaign of Buffett's father. Susan served on the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway and owned the second largest stake in the company after Buffett. At the time of her death, her fortune was estimated at almost $3 billion. She died in 2004 at the age of 71.
- In 2006 he married Astrid Menks.
- Three children from his first marriage.
- Close friends with Gates. One of their favorite pastimes is the card game bridge. During the pandemic in 2021, Buffett and Gates played online.
Buffett biography
Warren Buffett was born on August 30, 1930 in the USA, in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1942, when his father was elected Senator (he was re-elected 3 more times) to the US Congress, Warren moved to Washington with his parents and two sisters.
Warren Buffett as a child
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Buffett (far left) with his grandfather, sisters and cousins
Buffett acquired an interest in the stock market from his father, who worked as a broker in the stock market before becoming a politician. Warren made his first attempts at investing starting at a very young age. Already at the age of 11 he bought his first shares. These were preferred shares of the Cities Service Company.
While in school, Buffett earned money by, among other things, delivering Washington Post newspapers in the mornings. By the time he graduated from college, he had saved $9,800 (more than $100,000 today when adjusted for inflation). Buffett was a true entrepreneur in his early youth, installing jukeboxes in bars, selling golf balls, and the like.
Warren Buffett with his sisters and mother
Warren Buffett's childhood home
After Buffett failed to get into Harvard, he decided to go to Columbia Business School because... his idol Benjamin Graham taught there. Graham's lectures at that time were legendary - he was not only an excellent lecturer and writer (his famous "Security Analysis" and "The Intelligent Investor" have been reprinted for many decades and are recognized as one of the best books for investors), but also a very successful practitioner. They say that during his lectures Graham gave such valuable and relevant advice that you could immediately go to the stock exchange, follow his recommendations and earn serious money!
After graduation, Buffett worked as a securities salesman for 3 years, and then got a job as an investment analyst for Graham in his investment partnership Graham-Newman Corp. Interestingly, Buffett offered his services to Graham for free, realizing that the experience he would gain here was priceless. In 1956, Benjamin Graham retired and closed his company. Buffett moves from New York back to his native Omaha and starts his own investment partnership. By that time, by modern standards, Warren Buffett was already a millionaire.
As a hobby, Buffett lectures on investing at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Personal life
In 1952, Buffett married Susan Thompson. The following year their first child was born. In total, Susan and Warren had three children - Susan Alice Buffett, Howard Graham Buffett and Peter Buffett.
Warren Buffett with his wife Susan and children Howard and Susan
Warren Buffett's personal life was not easy. The marriage to Susan Thompson was not very smooth due to the fact that Warren was completely absorbed in his work. Gradually they began to move away from each other. They began living separately in 1977, although they did not officially divorce until Susan Buffett's death from cancer in 2004.
Warren Buffett with his wife and children
In 2006, Warren Buffett married Astrid Menks, with whom he had lived since his separation from Susan in 1977. Buffett was 76 years old in 2006, his fiancee was sixty. Interestingly, it was Susan who introduced Buffett to Astrid Menks before the final separation from him and her departure to California to try her luck in a singing career.
Astrid Menks, Warren Buffett, Susan Buffett
Carier start
From 1956 to 1969, Buffett managed outside investors' money (and his own) with an average annual return of 23.8% (before Buffett's commission, the average annual return was 29.5%).
This stunning result was achieved because Buffett found extremely undervalued companies, bought their shares and tried to influence the actions of the board of directors so that the shares would rise in price. What Buffett was doing then is very similar to the actions of the so-called activist investors of our time (Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman and others).
Warren Buffett in 1980
Warren Buffett's first investors were his close relatives and friends. He also received commissions for successfully managing their money, and already in 1962, Buffett became a dollar millionaire (~$8.5 million taking into account inflation for 2019).
Warren Buffett's investment strategy
The biggest influence on Warren Buffett's investing principles was his studies and work for the “father of value investing,” Benjamin Graham. It was Graham who coined this term.
The essence of value investing comes down to buying something (a security or an entire business) for less than its actual value. This can be done either in times of general panic (when investors are confident in the end of the world and everything in the stock market is falling - as, for example, during the 2008-2008 crisis or at the beginning of 2021 against the backdrop of the coronavirus epidemic), or when investors incorrectly assess business prospects .
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Graham's investment philosophy was originally based on his personal experience investing during the Great Depression. At that time, shares of many companies on the stock exchange were cheaper than the cash in their accounts minus all debts. Those. these companies could be closed, pay off all debts and remain in the black. The mood in the financial markets was so negative.
The main idea of investing is to look at stocks as a business, use market fluctuations to your advantage and look for a margin of safety. This is what Ben Graham taught. Even in 100 years, these will be the basics of investing.
In 1959, Warren Buffett meets Charlie Munger. Meeting Munger determined many of Buffett's future investment decisions, because... Munger was a proponent of buying better and more promising companies. Buffett at that time was more focused on finding cheap (in terms of the ratio of the price per share and the assets behind this share) investments, which led him to Berkshire Hathaway.
Buffett and Munger at the 2013 shareholder meeting
The best Forbes texts about Warren Buffett
- Unfashionable money: what Warren Buffett makes money from and why he beats the market
- Farewell to a legend: why Buffett's departure will affect investors around the world
- New era: why Warren Buffett started investing in fintech
- Oracle of Omaha. Warren Buffett's success story
- Raise a successor. Warren Buffett explains how to raise children
- Buffett's wisdom: how to turn $10,000 into $51 million and why cryptocurrencies will end badly
- Pay for Success: Why Warren Buffett Wins a $1 Million Bet?
- The Wizard of Omaha: How Warren Buffett Conquered Wall Street
- Communicate like a billionaire: three tips from Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett's childhood and family
The future legendary investor was born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, in the family of a stock trader, later a congressman, and a housewife, a former fashion model. The couple had two more daughters - the eldest Doris and Roberta, the youngest child in the family.
Warren Buffett as a child
His father’s profession influenced his son’s passion for finance. Already at the age of 6, he surprised his parents with his intelligence - he bought several cans of Coca-Cola and sold them to his family for twice the price. At the age of 11, pooling his savings with his sister, he purchased 3 shares of the Cities Service company, which supplied gas to city houses, on the stock exchange. Their price initially dropped, causing him to worry, and then rose from $38 to $40. At this point, Warren rushed to sell the shares and made a small profit, but soon regretted it bitterly, since later the value of the securities increased 5 times. This experience forced him subsequently to be more balanced, take his time and always give preference to long-term investments.
Warren Buffett in his youth
When his father entered Congress in 1942, the Buffetts moved to the US capital. In Washington, Warren continued his studies at school. He did not abandon business experiments either. At first, the boy became a Washington Post delivery boy and saved $1.2 thousand in a year. He used it to buy a plot of land of 40 acres (about 16 hectares), which he began renting out to farmers. Warren Buffett's success story At age 15, the young entrepreneur and a friend invested $75 in buying three used pinball machines and installing them in hair salons. Soon after this, the teenager announced to his family his intention to become a millionaire by the age of 30. Looking ahead, we note that his prediction was fulfilled almost on time - at the age of 31 he became the owner of a million-dollar fortune.
