1. Warren Edward Buffett is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway.
128 Facts About Warren Buffett
1. 2.
The son of US congressman and businessman Howard Warren Buffett, he developed an interest in business and investing during his youth.
3.
Warren Buffett entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before graduating from the University of Nebraska at 20.
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Warren Buffett went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing pioneered by Benjamin Graham.
5.
Warren Buffett attended New York Institute of Finance to focus on his economics background and soon pursued a business career.
6.
Warren Buffett later began various business ventures and investment partnerships, including one with Graham.
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Warren Buffett emerged as the company's chairman and majority shareholder in 1970.
8.
Since 1970, Warren Buffett has presided as the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, one of America's foremost holding companies and world's leading corporate conglomerates.
9.
Warren Buffett has been referred to as the "Oracle" or "Sage" of Omaha by global media as a result of having accumulated a massive fortune derived from his business and investment success.
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Warren Buffett is noted for his adherence to the principles of value investing, and his frugality despite his wealth.
11.
Warren Buffett has pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Gates Foundation.
12.
Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 with Bill Gates, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes.
13.
At Berkshire Hathaway's investor conference on May 3,2025, Warren Buffett requested that the board appoint Greg Abel to succeed him as the company's chief executive officer by the year's end.
14.
Warren Buffett was born on August 30,1930, in Omaha, Nebraska, as the second of three children and the only son of Leila and Congressman Howard Warren Buffett.
15.
Warren Buffett began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School.
16.
In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress, and after moving with his family to Washington, DC, Warren Buffett finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School and graduated from what was then Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947, where his senior yearbook picture reads: "likes math; a future stockbroker".
17.
Warren Buffett showcased an interest in business and investing at a young age.
18.
Warren Buffett was inspired by a book he borrowed from the Omaha public library at age seven, One Thousand Ways to Make $1000.
19.
In one of his first business ventures, Warren Buffett sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola, and weekly magazines door to door.
20.
On his first income tax return in 1944, Warren Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route.
21.
Warren Buffett's father took interest in cultivating and educating the young Warren's curiosity surrounding the subject of business and investing, even at one point taking him to visit the New York Stock Exchange when he was 10.
22.
At 15, Warren Buffett made more than $175 monthly delivering Washington Post newspapers.
23.
Warren Buffett bought the land when he was 14 years old with $1,200 of his savings.
24.
In 1947, Warren Buffett matriculated at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
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Warren Buffett would have preferred to focus on his business ventures, but enrolled due to pressure from his father.
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Warren Buffett studied there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.
27.
Warren Buffett then transferred to the University of Nebraska where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration in 1951.
28.
Warren Buffett earned a Master of Science in economics from Columbia in 1951.
29.
In 1951, Warren Buffett discovered that Graham was on the board of GEICO insurance.
30.
Warren Buffett wanted to work on Wall Street but both his father and Ben Graham urged him not to.
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Warren Buffett offered to work for Graham for free, but Graham refused.
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Warren Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker while taking a Dale Carnegie public speaking course.
33.
In 1954, Warren Buffett accepted a job at Benjamin Graham's partnership.
34.
Warren Buffett's starting salary was $12,000 a year.
35.
That summer, Warren Buffett was introduced to his future partner Charlie Munger during a business luncheon at The Omaha Club.
36.
Warren Buffett explained that Sanborn stock sold for only $45 per share in 1958, but the company's investment portfolio was worth $65 per share.
37.
Warren Buffett had reaped a 50 percent return on investment in just two years.
38.
In 1962, Warren Buffett became a millionaire with the success of his partnerships, which by then had grown to 11 entities and held in excess of $7,178,500, of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Warren Buffett.
39.
Warren Buffett invested in and eventually took control of a textile manufacturing company, Berkshire Hathaway.
40.
Warren Buffett began buying shares in Berkshire from Seabury Stanton, the owner, whom he later fired.
41.
In 1965, when Warren Buffett's partnerships began purchasing Berkshire aggressively, they paid $14.86 per share while the company had working capital of $19 per share.
42.
Warren Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at a board meeting and named a new president, Ken Chace, to run the company.
43.
Warren Buffett later claimed that the textile business had been his worst trade.
44.
Warren Buffett then moved the business into the insurance sector, and, in 1985, the last of the mills that had been the core business of Berkshire Hathaway was sold.
45.
In 1969, Warren Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners including shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
46.
Warren Buffett lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year and his outside investment income.
47.
Warren Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper and joined its board.
48.
Gen Re later provided reinsurance after Buffett became involved with Maurice R Greenberg at AIG in 2002.
49.
In 2007, in a letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor, or perhaps successors, to run his investment business.
50.
Warren Buffett ran into criticism during the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 and 2008, part of the Great Recession starting in 2007, that he had allocated capital too early resulting in suboptimal deals.
51.
Warren Buffett called the downturn in the financial sector that started in 2007 "poetic justice".
52.
In 2009, Gates regained the top position on the Forbes list, with Warren Buffett shifted to second place.
53.
In October 2008, the media reported that Warren Buffett had agreed to buy General Electric preferred stock.
54.
Warren Buffett discussed the difficulties of knowing when to sell in the company's 2004 annual report:.
55.
Also in 2009, Warren Buffett acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.
56.
In 2009, Warren Buffett divested his failed investment in ConocoPhillips, saying to his Berkshire investors,.
57.
In June 2010, Warren Buffett defended the credit-rating agencies for their role in the US financial crisis, claiming:.
58.
Warren Buffett had said on numerous prior occasions that he would not invest in technology because he did not fully understand it, so the move came as a surprise to many investors and observers.
59.
Warren Buffett was the second news print purchase made by Buffett in one year.
60.
Interim publisher James W Hopson announced on July 18,2013, that the Press of Atlantic City would be sold to Buffett's BH Media Group by ABARTA, a private holding company based in Pittsburgh, US At the Berkshire shareholders meeting in May 2013, Buffett explained that he did not expect to "move the needle" at Berkshire with newspaper acquisitions, but he anticipates an annual return of 10 percent.
61.
Warren Buffett advocated further on the issue of wealth equality in society:.
62.
On three dates between 2009 and 2012, Warren Buffett sold shares of Johnson and Johnson, Walmart, and Wells Fargo, with the sales totaling $80 million in value.
63.
At Berkshire Hathaway's investor conference on May 3,2025, Warren Buffett requested that the board appoint Greg Abel to succeed him as chief executive officer of the company by the end of the year.
64.
Warren Buffett is recognized by communicators as a great story-teller, as evidenced by his annual letters to shareholders.
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Warren Buffett has warned about the pernicious effects of inflation:.
66.
Warren Buffett has been a supporter of index funds for people who are either not interested in managing their own money or do not have the time.
67.
Warren Buffett is skeptical that active management can outperform the market in the long run, and has advised both individual and institutional investors to move their money to low-cost index funds that track broad, diversified stock market indices.
68.
Warren Buffett said in one of his letters to shareholders that "when trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients".
69.
In 1949, Warren Buffett developed a crush on a young woman whose boyfriend had a ukulele.
70.
Warren Buffett often plays the instrument at stockholder meetings and other opportunities.
71.
Warren Buffett disowned his son Peter's adopted daughter, Nicole, in 2006 after she participated in the Jamie Johnson documentary The One Percent about the growing economic inequality between the wealthy and the average citizen in the United States.
72.
Warren Buffett owned a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California, which he purchased for $150,000 in 1971.
73.
Warren Buffett sold the jet prior to mid-1999, and has since usually flown with Berkshire's flight services businesses.
74.
Warren Buffett is an avid bridge player, which he plays with Gates and champion player Sharon Osberg; he is said to spend 12 hours a week playing the game.
75.
Warren Buffett is a dedicated, lifelong follower of Nebraska football, and attends as many games as his schedule permits.
76.
Warren Buffett supported the hire of Bo Pelini, following the 2007 season, stating, "It was getting kind of desperate around here".
77.
Warren Buffett watched the 2009 game against Oklahoma from the Nebraska sideline, after being named an honorary assistant coach.
78.
Warren Buffett was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2009.
79.
Warren Buffett worked with Christopher Webber on an animated series called "Secret Millionaires Club" with chief Andy Heyward of DiC Entertainment.
80.
Warren Buffett was raised as a Presbyterian, but has since described himself as agnostic.
81.
In December 2006, it was reported that Warren Buffett did not carry a mobile phone, did not have a computer at his desk, and drove his own automobile, a Cadillac DTS.
82.
In February 2020, Warren Buffett revealed in a CNBC interview that he had traded in his flip phone for an iPhone 11.
83.
Warren Buffett reads five newspapers every day, beginning with the Omaha World Herald, which his company acquired in 2011.
84.
Warren Buffett's speeches are known for mixing business discussions with humor.
85.
Each year, Warren Buffett presides over Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting in the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska, an event drawing over 20,000 visitors from both the United States and abroad, giving it the nickname "Woodstock of Capitalism".
86.
Berkshire's annual reports and letters to shareholders, prepared by Warren Buffett, frequently receive coverage by the financial media.
87.
Warren Buffett's writings are known for containing quotations from sources as varied as the Bible and Mae West, as well as advice in a folksy, Midwestern style and numerous jokes.
88.
Warren Buffett is very distantly related to the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama.
89.
On September 15,2012, Warren Buffett announced that he had completed the full 44-day radiation treatment cycle, saying "it's a great day for me" and "I am so glad to say that's over".
90.
In 2008, Warren Buffett was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately $62 billion.
91.
In 1999, Warren Buffett was named the Top Money Manager of the Twentieth Century in a survey by the Carson Group, ahead of Peter Lynch and John Templeton.
92.
Warren Buffett has written several times of his belief that, in a market economy, the rich earn outsized rewards for their talents.
93.
Warren Buffett once commented, "I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing".
94.
Warren Buffett joined the Gates Foundation's board, but did not plan to be actively involved in the foundation's investments.
95.
Warren Buffett announced his resignation as a trustee of the Gates Foundation on June 23,2021.
96.
In 2009, Ralph Nader wrote the book Only the Super Rich Can Save Us, a novel about "a movement of billionaires led by Warren Buffett and featuring, among others, Ted Turner, George Soros and Barry Diller, who use their fortunes to clean up America".
97.
On C-SPAN BookTV, Nader said Warren Buffett invited him to breakfast after the book came out and was "quite intrigued by the book".
98.
Warren Buffett was supportive of his sister Doris Buffett's Letters Foundation and Learning By Giving Foundation.
99.
In November 2022, Warren Buffett made a donation of $750 million in Berkshire Hathaway shares to four charitable foundations run by his children.
100.
Warren Buffett transferred 300,000 Class B shares each to three funds managed by his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.
101.
On July 2,2008, Warren Buffett attended a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Obama's campaign in Chicago.
102.
Warren Buffett intimated that John McCain's views on social justice were so far from his own that McCain would need a "lobotomy" for Warren Buffett to change his endorsement.
103.
Warren Buffett was a financial advisor to Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 California gubernatorial election.
104.
On December 16,2015, Warren Buffett endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president.
105.
On October 10,2016, after a reference to him in the second presidential debate, Warren Buffett released his own tax return.
106.
Warren Buffett described the health care reform under President Barack Obama as insufficient to deal with the costs of health care in the US, though he supports its aim of expanding health insurance coverage.
107.
Warren Buffett compared health care costs to a tapeworm, saying that they compromise US economic competitiveness by increasing manufacturing costs.
108.
Warren Buffett said, "If you want the very best, I mean if you want to spend a million dollars to prolong your life 3 months in a coma or something then the US is probably the best", but he said that other countries spend much less and receive much more in health care value.
109.
Warren Buffett cited Atul Gawande's 2009 article in the New Yorker as a useful consideration of US health care, with its documentation of unwarranted variation in Medicare expenditures between McAllen, Texas and El Paso, Texas.
110.
Warren Buffett raised the problem of lobbying by the medical industry, saying that they are very focused on maintaining their income.
111.
The Warren Buffett Foundation has given over $1.5 billion to abortion research to include $427 million to Planned Parenthood.
112.
In 2007, Warren Buffett testified before the Senate and urged them to preserve the estate tax so as to avoid a plutocracy.
113.
Some critics argued that Warren Buffett has a personal interest in the continuation of the estate tax, since Berkshire Hathaway benefited from the estate tax in past business dealings and had developed and marketed insurance policies to protect policy holders against future estate tax payments.
114.
Warren Buffett believes government should not be in the business of gambling, or legalizing casinos, calling it a tax on ignorance.
115.
The trade deficit induced Warren Buffett to enter the foreign currency market for the first time in 2002.
116.
Warren Buffett substantially reduced his stake in 2005 as changing interest rates increased the costs of holding currency contracts.
117.
Warren Buffett remained bearish on the dollar, stating that he was looking to acquire companies with substantial foreign revenues.
118.
Warren Buffett has been critical of gold as an investment, with his critique being based primarily on its non-productive nature.
119.
Warren Buffett invested in PetroChina Company Limited and in a rare move, posted a commentary on Berkshire Hathaway's website stating why he would not divest over its connection with the Sudanese civil war that caused Harvard to divest.
120.
Warren Buffett sold this stake soon afterwards, sparing him the billions of dollars he would have lost had he held on to the company in the midst of the steep drop in oil prices beginning in the summer of 2008.
121.
David Sokol responded on Warren Buffett's behalf, stating that the FERC would decide the question.
122.
Warren Buffett has been a strong proponent of stock option expensing on corporate income statements.
123.
In May 2012, Warren Buffett said he had avoided buying stock in high-technology companies such as Facebook and Google due to them being complex and difficult to understand on top of their concomitant complications from being hard to confidently estimate their future value.
124.
Warren Buffett stated that initial public offering's of new stock issues are almost always bad investments.
125.
Warren Buffett has advised investors to look for companies that will have good value in ten years.
126.
Warren Buffett stated that the markets and the economy will likely be unpredictable well into the post-pandemic recovery period, even with the Biden administration and the United States Federal Reserve having a plan in place.
127.
Warren Buffett said the unpredictability and the effects of COVID-19 are far from over.
128.
Warren Buffett has been a guest 10 times on Charlie Rose, and was the subject of the HBO documentary feature Becoming Warren Buffett and the BBC production The World's Greatest Money Maker.