Warren Buffett is the most successful investor of the last century. But who is Warren Buffett? Warren Buffett is the CEO and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett always had a keen interest in the stock market from an early age. During a trip to New York at age 10, he made an effort to visit the NYSE. At age 11 he bought 3 shares of Cities Service.
Buffett grew up and attended Columbia Business school, after being rejected by Harvard. At Columbia Business school, Buffett learned from the great Benjamin Graham. After college, he found out that Graham worked on the board of GEICO. Buffett stormed over to the GEICO headquarters, where he met the VP Lormier Davidson. They chatted for a while about the insurance company, and to this day they are good friends. 2 years later, he accepted a partnership from Graham. After Graham’s retirement in 1956. At the time of Graham’s retirement, Buffett had amassed about $174,000 USD (1.47 million dollars USD today).
By 1962 Buffett merged his partnerships into one. He later took over a textile company named Berkshire Hathaway, which by 1966 had been turned into an insurance firm. Even though Berkshire Hathaway today has reached pinnacles of success, Buffett regards it as one of his biggest mistakes. Currently he holds a majority stake in Berkshire Hathaway.
Berkshire Hathaway is a large firm that controls smaller subsidiary companies. Hathaway owns majority/minority stakes in almost all major companies including Geico, Coca-Cola, Heinz, etc..
In 1979, Buffett made it on the Forbes 400 list for the first time in his career. Warren Buffett today is consistently ranked as one of the world’s wealthiest people, with a net worth of $67,000,000,000 USD ($67 billion USD).
Buffett is recognized for his outstanding philanthropic work and his frugal lifestyle. So far this year Buffett personally donated over 2.8 billion dollars to several charities! These charities included the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. In 2012, TIME magazine ranked him as “One of the World’s Most Influential People.”
Sources: “Warren Buffett.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Nov. 2014. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
Morrell, Alex. “Buffett Donates $2.8 Billion, Breaks Personal Giving Record.”Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.