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Warren Edward Buffett is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is an American investor, business tycoon, and philanthropist worth $100.3 billion according to Forbes on March 2021. Buffett is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate that owns more than 60 businesses, including insurer Geico, battery manufacturer Duracell, and restaurant chain Dairy Queen.
Warren Buffett nicknamed the "Oracle of Omaha," is one of the world's most successful investors. At a young age, Buffett showed an interest in business and investing. One Thousand Ways to Make $1000, a book he borrowed from the Omaha public library when he was seven, inspired him. He first bought stocks at the age of 11 and filed taxes at the age of 13. He is the only son of Leila and Congressman Howard Buffett, and he is the second of three children. After moving with his family to Washington, D.C., Warren finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School, and graduated there. Buffett did not want to attend college and go into business, but his father persuaded him.
In his youth, he developed an interest in business and investing, eventually enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1947 before transferring to and graduating from the University of Nebraska at the age of 19. He went on to Columbia Business School, where he based his investment philosophy on Benjamin Graham's pioneering concept of value investing. He went to the New York Institute of Finance to hone his economics skills, and soon after, he established several business partnerships, one of which was with Graham. In 1956, he founded Buffett Partnership, Ltd, which later acquired Berkshire Hathaway, a textile manufacturing company, and adopted its name to form a diversified holding company. Buffett has been the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970. Despite his enormous wealth, he is known for his commitment to value investing and personal frugality. According to research published by the University of Oxford, Buffett's investment strategy falls under the category of "founder centrism," which is defined by a deference to managers with a founder's mindset, an ethical attitude toward the shareholder collective, and a laser-like focus on the bottom line.
In 1952, Buffett married Susan. Susie, Howard, and Peter were their three children together. While Susan Buffett died in July 2004, the couple started living separately in 1977. Buffett married his lifelong friend, Astrid Menks, who was 60 years old at the time, on his 76th birthday in 2006. She had lived with him since his wife moved to San Francisco in 1977. Susie, his daughter, lives in Omaha and serves on the national board of Girls, Inc., as well as doing charitable work through the Susan A. Buffett Foundation.
It was reported in December 2006 that he did not own a cell phone, did not have a computer at his desk, and drove his own vehicle, a Cadillac DTS. In comparison, he claimed at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting that his favorite search engine is Google. He had an old Nokia flip phone in 2013 and had only ever sent one email in his life. Buffett disclosed in a CNBC interview in February 2020 that he had traded in his flip phone for an iPhone 11.
Buffett is a modest man with a humble demeanor. He does not live lavishly despite his vast wealth. In fact, he has lived in the same house since 1958 before amassing his massive fortune. By accepting a low-paying job, he gains the moral and social capital that underpins his modest lifestyle, allowing him to lecture corporate America on its greed and rein in its voracious appetite for capital accumulation. Buffett has spoken out against the United States' unequal wealth distribution and supports a higher tax rate for the wealthy. Second, receiving a large salary from a company in which he has a large stake does not make financial sense for him. Berkshire Hathaway's value would be lowered, and the stock would be diluted.
He and Bill Gates launched the Giving Pledge in 2010, which asked billionaires to pledge to donate at least half of their wealth to charitable causes. He has pledged to give away over 99 percent of his fortune. The 90-year-old Buffett’s net worth would be significantly greater had he not begun donating his Berkshire shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four family charities.
SOURCES : Forbes, Reuters , Investopedia
This article was updated on March 12, 2021 by Vanessa Shumbanhete
Earnings & Financial Data
|
Date |
Category |
Description |
Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2021 |
Asset |
Buybacks and filings |
$24,700,000,000 |
|
2020 |
Earnings |
Dividend payments of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway |
$4,700,000,000 |
|
2019 |
Earnings |
Dividend payments of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway |
$4,650,000,000 |
|
2019 |
Asset |
Estimated value of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment portfolio |
$186,500,000,000 |
|
2018 |
Others |
All other compensation as the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. |
$288,970 |
|
2018 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. |
$100,000 |
|
2018 |
Earning Turned Donation |
Donation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Berkshire Hathaway stock |
$2,600,000,000 |
|
2018 |
Sale of Asset |
Sale of Warren Buffett's home in Laguna Beach |
$7,500,000 |
|
2018 |
Earning Turned Donation |
Donation to charities including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one named after his first wife who died in 2004, and each of his children’s foundations |
$31,000,000,000 |
|
2018 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's 166.7 million shares in Apple |
$28,200,000,000 |
|
2018 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2018 |
$100,000 |
|
2017 |
Earning Turned Donation |
Donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation |
$27,540,000,000 |
|
2017 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2017 |
$100,000 |
|
2016 |
Earning Turned Donation |
Donation to charities including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which is named for his late wife |
$2,900,000,000 |
|
2016 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2016 |
$100,000 |
|
2016 |
Earnings |
Earnings from Bank Stocks and the Election for the year 2016 |
$12,000,000,000 |
|
2015 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2015 |
$100,000 |
|
2014 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2014 |
$100,000 |
|
2013 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's Cadillac XTS |
$44,600 |
|
2013 |
Asset |
Purchase value of the remaining 20% of Wertheimer’s precision metalworking tool company, ISCAR |
$2,050,000,000 |
|
2012 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2013 |
$100,000 |
|
2012 |
Asset |
Deal in the acquisition of H.J. Heinz Co. with Brazilian billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann's 3G Capital |
$23,200,000,000 |
|
2012 |
Earning Turned Donation |
Donation of Warren Buffett's company's stock to his three children's charitable foundations |
$600,000,000 |
|
2012 |
Asset |
Purchase value of 80% of Wertheimer’s precision metalworking tool company, ISCAR |
$4,000,000,000 |
|
2011 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2012 |
$100,000 |
|
2011 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's 64 million shares of International Business Machine Corp (IBM) stock |
$11,000,000,000 |
|
2008 |
Asset |
Cash and stock value of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation upon acquisition |
$34,000,000,000 |
|
2007 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's share with his Berkshire Hathaway in the enlarged group of Dow Chemicals after taking over Rohm & Haas |
$3,000,000,000 |
|
2007 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2008 |
$100,000 |
|
2006 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2007 |
$100,000 |
|
2006 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's Cadillac DTS |
$42,000 |
|
2005 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 2006 |
$100,000 |
|
2005 |
Earnings |
Estimated gain from the forward contracts to deliver U.S. dollars against other currencies |
$2,000,000,000 |
|
2004 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's Omaha home |
$690,000 |
|
2004 |
Sale of Asset |
Earnings from the sale of his Laguna Beach home |
$5,450,000 |
|
2001 |
Contract |
Value of forward contracts to deliver U.S. dollars against other currencies |
$11,000,000,000 |
|
1997 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's 7% share in Coca-Cola company |
$1,020,000,000 |
|
1996 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's Buffalo Evening News |
$32,500,000 |
|
1971 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's home in Laguna Beach |
$150,000 |
|
1969 |
Salary |
Annual salary as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for the year 1970 |
$50,000 |
|
1961 |
Earnings |
Earnings from his partnerships including Berkshire Hathaway |
$1,025,000 |
|
1956 |
Asset |
Purchase value of Warren Buffett's five-bedroom stucco house in Omaha |
$31,500 |
|
1955 |
Asset |
Savings he used to start Buffett Partnership Ltd., an investment partnership in Omaha |
$174,000 |
|
1953 |
Salary |
Salary from Benjamin Graham's partnership |
$12,000 |
|
1949 |
Earnings |
Annual earnings as an investment salesman of Buffett-Falk & Co. |
$9,800 |
