Warren Buffett's Fortune

Short introduction

Warren Buffett is an American entrepreneur, major investor, and philanthropist. As CEO of his investment company Berkshire Hathaway, he is one of the richest and most respected business people in the world.

Early life

Warren Edward Buffett was born on August 30, 1930 in Obama, Nebraska as the second oldest child of Leila and Howard Buffett, a stockbroker who served as a congressman. He showed an amazing talent for money and business at a young age and was impressed by the fact that he can calculate large columns of numbers in his head. In one of his first stores, Buffett sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola bottles, and weekly magazines from house to house. He worked in his grandfather’s grocery store. At the age of eleven, he started working in the financial world and bought shares for himself and for his sister Doris. In 1942, Buffett’s father was elected to the US House of Representatives and his family moved to Fredricksburg, Virginia to be closer to the new Congressman post. Buffett attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, DC, where he continued to plan new ways to make money. During his school years, he made money by delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and stamps. Warren Buffett graduated from school at the age of 17. It was never his intention to study because he had already earned $ 5,000 for newspaper delivery (this was equivalent to $ 42,610.81 in 2000). His father planned other ways for his son and persuaded Warren to enroll in the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Buffett only studied at the university for two years and was unhappy that his knowledge was greater than that of his professors. When his father was defeated in Congress in 1948, Warren returned to Omaha and moved to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Despite his full-time job, he managed to get his university degree in just three years. After being rejected by Harvard Business School, Buffett enrolled in Columbia Business School at Columbia University after learning that his role model was taught by investor Benjamin Graham. Buffett earned a Master of Science in economics there in 1951. Upon graduation, Buffett attended the New York Institute of Finance.

Career

Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker while taking a public speaking course. With what he had learned, he felt confident enough to teach an evening course “Investment Principles” at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The average age of his students was more than twice his own. During this time he also bought a Sinclair Texaco petrol station as a side investment, which was unsuccessful. In 1954, Buffett took a job at Benjamin Graham’s company as a securities analyst. When he retired in 1956, Buffett’s personal savings were over $ 174,000 (now around $ 1.64 million) and he founded Buffett Partnership Ltd. Buffett operated seven partnerships until 1960. In 1962, Buffett became a millionaire due to its partnerships, which at the time had a surplus of $ 7,178,500. Buffett owned $ 1,025,000 of the excess. He merged these partnerships into one. Buffett invested in Berkshire Hathaway and eventually took control of a textile factory. In 1966, Buffett partnered to invest new money. He later claimed that the textile business was his worst business. He then switched to the insurance sector. In 1973 Berkshire began buying shares in the Washington Post Company and in 1979 shares in ABC. In 1988, Buffett started buying The Coca-Cola Company shares, and eventually bought up to 7 percent of the company for $ 1.02 billion. It would turn out to be one of Berkshire’s most lucrative investments and one that Berkshire still holds.

Career highlights

In 2008, Forbes ranked Buffett as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately $ 62 billion. According to the 2019 Forbes list, his fortune is around $ 83 billion and is number 3 on the list of the richest people in the world. In June 2006, Buffett announced that it would donate all of its assets to charity, 85 percent of which would go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This donation became the largest fundraising event in the history of the United States. In 2010, Buffett and Gates announced that they launched The Giving Pledge campaign to attract more wealthy people for philanthropic purposes.

Famous quotes

“If you’re one of the happiest 1 percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent.”
“I was always aware that I would get rich. I don’t think I’ve ever had any doubts about it. ”

Success tips

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and it takes five minutes to ruin it. If you think about it, you’re more careful. ”
“It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to achieve exceptional results.”
“I measure success by how many people love me.”