Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett
Born	Warren Edward Buffett 30 8, 1930
Birthplace	Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Investor, businessman, philanthropist
Known for	Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, value investing, philanthropy
Education	Columbia Business School (M.S.)
Awards	Presidential Medal of Freedom (2011)
Website	[[berkshirehathaway.com berkshirehathaway.com] Official site]

Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930) is an American investor, businessman, and philanthropist who serves as chairman of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. Often referred to in media as the "Oracle of Omaha," Buffett built one of the largest personal fortunes in history through decades of disciplined value investing, a philosophy he adopted under the tutelage of economist and investor Benjamin Graham at Columbia Business School. The son of a Nebraska congressman and businessman, Buffett displayed an early aptitude for business and numbers, launching his first investment partnerships in the 1950s before acquiring a controlling stake in a struggling textile manufacturer that he would transform into one of the world's largest and most diversified holding companies. Under his leadership, Berkshire Hathaway grew from a declining New England mill into a multinational conglomerate with interests spanning insurance, energy, railroads, retail, and manufacturing, while its stock price became one of the most expensive per share on any American exchange. At Berkshire Hathaway's annual investor conference on May 3, 2025, Buffett requested that the board appoint Greg Abel to succeed him as chief executive officer by year's end, while he would remain as chairman of the board. Buffett has pledged to donate 99 percent of his wealth to philanthropic causes and co-founded The Giving Pledge in 2010 alongside Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, encouraging other billionaires to commit at least half of their fortunes to charity.

Early Life

Warren Edward Buffett was born on August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Howard Homan Buffett and Leila (née Stahl) Buffett. His father, Howard Buffett, was a businessman and stockbroker who later served four terms as a United States congressman representing Nebraska's second congressional district. The family's roots in Omaha were deep, and Warren grew up in a household where business and public affairs were frequent topics of conversation.

From an early age, Buffett exhibited a pronounced interest in business and money-making. As a boy, he sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola bottles, and weekly magazines door to door in his Omaha neighborhood. He purchased his first stock at the age of eleven and filed his first tax return at thirteen, claiming a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle in his paper delivery route. By the time he finished high school, Buffett had accumulated savings from various entrepreneurial endeavors, including owning pinball machines placed in local barbershops.

Buffett's childhood was also shaped by his father's political career and the family's periods of residence in Washington, D.C., where Howard Buffett served in Congress. Despite these relocations, Warren maintained a strong connection to Omaha, a city that would remain his home for the rest of his life. His early fascination with numbers, compound interest, and the mechanics of business laid the groundwork for an investment career that would span more than seven decades.

Education

Buffett entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947, where he studied business for two years. Finding the curriculum insufficiently practical for his interests, he transferred to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, from which he graduated at the age of twenty with a Bachelor of Science in business administration.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Buffett applied to Harvard Business School but was rejected. He subsequently enrolled at Columbia Business School after learning that Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, both noted securities analysts and authors of the influential text Security Analysis, were members of the faculty. At Columbia, Buffett studied under Graham, whose concept of value investing—purchasing securities at prices below their intrinsic value—became the intellectual foundation of Buffett's entire investment approach. Buffett earned a Master of Science in economics from Columbia in 1951. He also attended the New York Institute of Finance to further develop his economics background. Graham was the only professor to give Buffett an A+ grade at Columbia, a distinction that reflected the depth of the student's engagement with the material.

Career

Early Partnerships and Benjamin Graham

After graduating from Columbia, Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker at his father's firm, Buffett-Falk & Co. In 1954, Benjamin Graham offered Buffett a position at his investment firm, Graham-Newman Corp., in New York City. Buffett accepted and spent two years working directly under Graham, deepening his understanding of value investing through hands-on practice. When Graham retired and dissolved the partnership in 1956, Buffett returned to Omaha.

That same year, at the age of twenty-five, Buffett established Buffett Partnership Ltd., a private investment partnership. Starting with $105,100 in combined capital from seven limited partners—including family members and friends—Buffett began applying Graham's principles to identify undervalued stocks. Over the next thirteen years, the partnership achieved compound annual returns that far exceeded the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. By 1965, the partnership's assets had grown substantially, and Buffett's reputation as a skilled stock picker was firmly established among a small circle of investors.

Acquisition of Berkshire Hathaway

In 1962, Buffett Partnership Ltd. began purchasing shares of Berkshire Hathaway, then a struggling textile manufacturing company based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. By 1965, Buffett had accumulated enough shares to take control of the company. Although the textile operations continued to decline, Buffett used Berkshire Hathaway as a vehicle for deploying capital into more profitable enterprises, particularly insurance companies, which generated float—premiums collected before claims were paid—that could be invested elsewhere.

Buffett dissolved his investment partnerships in 1969 and 1970, distributing assets to partners. He emerged as the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway in 1970, a position he would hold for more than five decades. The transformation of Berkshire from a failing textile operation into a diversified holding company is central to Buffett's career narrative. He later described the original textile investment as one of his worst decisions, noting that the capital trapped in the declining business could have been deployed more profitably elsewhere. Nevertheless, the Berkshire Hathaway corporate shell proved an effective platform for his investment activities.

Building Berkshire Hathaway

Under Buffett's stewardship, Berkshire Hathaway expanded through a combination of whole-company acquisitions and strategic stock investments. In the insurance sector, Berkshire acquired GEICO, General Re, and numerous smaller insurers, creating a massive pool of investable float. Beyond insurance, Buffett directed acquisitions in diverse industries including candy (See's Candies), newspapers (the Buffalo News and later the Omaha World-Herald), furniture retail (Nebraska Furniture Mart), and jewelry (Borsheims).

In 1978, Charlie Munger, a fellow investor and long-time business associate, joined Buffett as vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Munger's influence on Buffett's thinking was substantial; he encouraged Buffett to move beyond Graham's strict focus on statistically cheap stocks toward purchasing high-quality businesses at reasonable prices, an evolution Buffett later acknowledged publicly. The Buffett-Munger partnership became one of the most celebrated collaborations in American business history, lasting until Munger's death in November 2023 at the age of ninety-nine.

Berkshire Hathaway's stock portfolio included long-term positions in major American corporations. Buffett's investment in Coca-Cola, initiated in 1988, became one of his most iconic holdings. He also maintained significant positions in companies such as American Express, Wells Fargo, and Apple Inc., the latter becoming Berkshire's single largest equity holding by market value in the 2020s.

The Salomon Brothers Crisis

In 1991, Buffett was thrust into one of the most consequential episodes of his career when a scandal erupted at Salomon Brothers, the Wall Street investment bank in which Berkshire Hathaway held a significant stake. Salomon traders had submitted false bids in U.S. Treasury bond auctions, and the firm faced potential criminal prosecution and the loss of its license to trade government securities. Buffett stepped in as interim chairman of Salomon Brothers to manage the crisis, testifying before Congress and working to restore the firm's credibility with regulators. His appearance before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance included the oft-quoted admonition to Salomon employees: "Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless." His intervention helped save the firm from collapse and reinforced his reputation for personal integrity.

Investment Philosophy

Buffett's investment approach, rooted in the value investing framework of Benjamin Graham, emphasizes purchasing shares of companies at prices below their calculated intrinsic value. Over time, influenced by Charlie Munger, Buffett refined this approach to focus on companies with durable competitive advantages—what he termed "economic moats"—strong management, and consistent earnings power, even when such businesses were not available at the deep discounts Graham typically sought.

Buffett has consistently advocated for long-term holding periods, famously stating that his "favorite holding period is forever." He has expressed skepticism toward complex financial instruments, describing derivatives in his 2002 letter to Berkshire shareholders as "financial weapons of mass destruction." This warning gained renewed attention during the 2007–2008 financial crisis when derivatives played a central role in the near-collapse of several major financial institutions.

Buffett has also been a vocal critic of gold as an investment, arguing that it is a non-productive asset. In his view, investments in productive businesses and farmland generate returns over time, while gold merely sits inertly. This perspective has remained consistent even during periods of surging gold prices.

A market indicator bearing his name—the "Buffett indicator"—compares the total market capitalization of publicly traded stocks to the country's gross domestic product. Analysts and financial commentators have used this metric as a gauge of whether the overall stock market is overvalued or undervalued.

The 2008 Financial Crisis

During the global financial crisis of 2007–2008, Buffett emerged as a stabilizing force in American financial markets. In September 2008, as confidence in major financial institutions wavered, Berkshire Hathaway invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs through the purchase of preferred stock carrying a 10 percent annual dividend, along with warrants to purchase additional common shares. Goldman Sachs later redeemed Buffett's preferred stake in March 2011 at a premium, paying $5.65 billion. Berkshire also made significant investments in General Electric and other companies during the downturn, capitalizing on distressed valuations while simultaneously providing a vote of confidence in the American financial system.

Buffett published an op-ed in The New York Times in October 2008 titled "Buy American. I Am," urging investors to purchase American equities despite the prevailing fear in markets. His willingness to deploy capital during periods of extreme pessimism exemplified the contrarian element of his investment philosophy.

Major Acquisitions and Later Career

Berkshire Hathaway continued to grow through major acquisitions in the 2000s and 2010s. In 2008, Berkshire participated in financing the Dow Chemical Company's $19 billion acquisition of Rohm and Haas. In 2010, Berkshire completed its acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF), one of North America's largest railroad companies, in a deal valued at approximately $44 billion. Buffett described railroads as essential to the American economy and the BNSF purchase as an "all-in wager on the economic future of the United States."

Berkshire's portfolio continued to evolve in subsequent years. The company reduced holdings in some consumer staples companies, including selling portions of its positions in Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Berkshire Hathaway's stock purchases continued to attract attention from value-focused investors tracking the firm's regulatory filings.

CEO Succession

At Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting on May 3, 2025, Buffett announced that he would step down as chief executive officer by year's end, recommending that the board appoint Greg Abel, who had been serving as vice-chairman of non-insurance operations, as his successor. Buffett stated that he would remain as chairman of the board. The announcement marked the culmination of years of succession planning at Berkshire, a topic that had been the subject of extensive speculation among investors and analysts given Buffett's advanced age and his central role in the company's operations and culture.

Personal Life

Warren Buffett has resided in Omaha, Nebraska, for the majority of his adult life. He purchased his home in the Dundee neighborhood of Omaha in 1958, and as of the mid-2020s continues to live there—a fact frequently cited as emblematic of his well-documented frugality. Despite accumulating one of the largest personal fortunes in history, Buffett has maintained relatively modest personal spending habits compared to peers of similar wealth.

Buffett married Susan Thompson in 1952. The couple had three children: Susie, Howard, and Peter. Susan Buffett moved to San Francisco in 1977 to pursue a singing career, though the couple remained married and maintained a close relationship. Before her departure, Susan introduced Warren to Astrid Menks, who became his companion and later his second wife. Susan Buffett died in 2004, and Warren married Astrid Menks in 2006.

Buffett has spoken publicly about the relationship between wealth and happiness, stating: "If you aren't happy having $50,000 or $100,000, you are not going to be happy if you have $50 million or $100 million."

Buffett is a member of the Democratic Party.

Philanthropy

Buffett has committed to donating the vast majority of his wealth to charitable causes. In 2006, he announced that he would gradually give approximately 85 percent of his Berkshire Hathaway shares to five foundations, with the largest portion directed to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over subsequent years, he increased his pledge to 99 percent of his fortune.

In 2010, Buffett, along with Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, launched The Giving Pledge, a campaign to encourage the wealthiest individuals in the world to commit at least half of their wealth to philanthropy. By the mid-2020s, more than 200 individuals and couples from across the globe had signed the pledge.

Buffett's annual charity lunch auction, in which the winning bidder received a private meal with Buffett, became a notable philanthropic tradition. Proceeds from the auction benefited the Glide Foundation in San Francisco. The auction ran for more than two decades before being discontinued following the 2022 event.

Recognition

Buffett has received numerous honors and accolades over his career. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, in recognition of his contributions to business and philanthropy.

Global media organizations have consistently included Buffett in rankings of the world's wealthiest and most influential individuals. Forbes magazine has listed him among the top ten richest people in the world for multiple consecutive decades. The BBC reported in 2008 that Buffett had briefly surpassed Bill Gates as the world's wealthiest individual, based on the performance of Berkshire Hathaway's stock price.

Buffett's annual letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders are studied by investors, business students, and financial professionals worldwide. Written in accessible, often humorous prose, the letters explain Berkshire's operations and Buffett's investment rationale while offering broader commentary on economics, corporate governance, and market behavior. They are considered among the most important documents in the literature of modern investing.

The Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, held each year in Omaha, draws tens of thousands of attendees and has been described as a "Woodstock for capitalists." The event features hours of questions directed to Buffett and, until his death, Munger, covering topics ranging from individual stock picks to macroeconomic trends.

Legacy

Warren Buffett's influence on investing, corporate management, and philanthropy extends across multiple generations of practitioners. His articulation and practice of value investing brought the ideas of Benjamin Graham to a global audience, while his partnership with Charlie Munger demonstrated the effectiveness of combining quantitative analysis with qualitative assessment of business quality. The compounding of Berkshire Hathaway's book value over more than half a century under Buffett's stewardship serves as a case study in patient capital allocation.

Buffett's insistence on transparency in shareholder communications set a standard for corporate disclosure. His warnings about the risks of derivatives, issued years before the 2008 financial crisis validated his concerns, underscored his reputation for independent thinking. His willingness to invest aggressively during periods of market panic—such as his Goldman Sachs investment in September 2008—illustrated the practical application of the contrarian principles he espoused.

The Giving Pledge, co-founded by Buffett, represents an effort to reshape the culture of wealth and charitable giving among the world's richest individuals. If his pledge to donate 99 percent of his fortune is fully realized, Buffett's philanthropic contributions will rank among the largest in history.

As of early 2026, analysts and investors continued to study Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio moves for signals about market conditions and sector valuations, a testament to the enduring influence of Buffett's investment decisions on financial markets and the broader investing public.