People | April 05, 2016 08:50 AM EDT
45 Facts about Warren Buffett - Most Successful Investor In The World
Warren Buffett is an American business magnet and philanthropist, who is considered to be the one of the most influential people in the world. Here are 45 facts about Buffett:
- Buffett is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is the most successful investor in the world.
- He was born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. He is distant descent of French Huguenot.
- He was the only son of Leila and Howard Buffett. He attended Rose Hill Elementary School and Alice Deal Junior High School. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School.
- His penchant for business was evident early, as even while still in school he was in to different business ventures. He invested in installing Pinball machines in the local barber shops and sold the business later for 1200 U.S Dollars.
- He as 11 years old invested in stock market and by the age of 14 he had bought 40 acre farm land from his savings.
- He graduated as Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Nebraska-Lincoln and later did his Masters in Economics from Columbia Business School.
- He started his career as investment salesman in 1951 before switching over to securities analyst with Graham-Newman Corp in 1954.
- Early in his career, he taught Investment Principles at University of Nebraska-Omaha and invested in Sinclair Texaco gas station.
- He married a college professor’s daughter Susan Thompson at Dundee Presbyterian Church in 1952.
- He worked as securities analyst with Benjamin Graham for a salary of 12,000 dollars a year in 1954.
- In 1956, He started his own company Buffett Partnership Ltd., out of his savings of 174,000 dollars. Within 4 years, he started operating seven partnerships, as the Buffett Partnership grew from its inception to seven partnerships by the year 1960.
- By 1962, Buffett became a millionaire when his share in the partnership was worth 1,025,000 dollars.
- He started investing in Berkshire Hathaway and became its Chairman, and began diversifying its business.
- He began buying shares in Berkshire from Seabury Stanton, at $7.60 per share.
- In 1966, he claimed that the textile business had been his worst trade and moved the business into the insurance sector.
- He sold the last of the mills that had been the core business of Berkshire Hathaway in 1985.
- On March 18, 1985, he helped Capital Cities to purchase stocks of ABC by financing in return for 25% stake in the new company.
- He became the Chairman of Salomon Brothers during Treasury bond scandal after John Gutfreund resignation.
- By 1988, he started acquiring stocks in the Coca-Cola Company to the tune of 1.02 billion dollars. It was one of the profitable investments by him till date.
- In 1949, he started learning to play Ukulele accidently which led him to become a part of Susan Thompson’s life.
- He has three children Susan, Howard and Peter. Susan is the board member of Girls Incorporated and does charitable works.
- He spent nearly $6.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a private jet, which he named “The Indefensible.”
- In the year 1990, became a paper billionaire, just as Berkshire Hathaway began selling class A shares with the market closing at US$7,175 a share.
- It was on August 14, 2014, that the price of Berkshire Hathaway's shares hit US$200,000 a share for the first time, capitalizing the company at US$328 billion. However, by this time, he had given away much of his stock to charities.
- He is so fond of playing bridge that he sponsored a bridge match for Buffett Cup. He spends 12 hours a week playing the game of bridge.
- He worked in the animated series ‘Secret Millionaires Club,’ which teaches young children healthy financial habits.
- He lives in five bedroom house in Omaha, which he purchased for 31,500 dollars in 1957. He still lives in the same house for the past 58 years and has neither cellphone nor computer. He also drives his own car.
- He also owns a $4 million house in Laguna Beach, California.
- Apart from bridge, Buffett is also passionate about football. He is great supporter of Nebraska Football team and he was made the honorary assistant coach.
- After the death of Susan Buffett, he married his long time companion Astrid Menks in 2006 at the age of 76 years.
- In 2008, at least 47 books were reportedly in print with his name in the title, according to an article in USA Today. The CEO of Borders Books, George Jones was quoted in the article saying that Buffet to be the only other living person to be named in as many book titles, other than U.S. presidents, world political figures and the Dalai Lama.
- He was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer during a routine test in April 2012. He recovered from it by completing 44 days radiation treatment cycle.
- Carson Group had named him as the Top Money Manager of the Twentieth Century in 1999.
- He was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in the world in 2007. He was also considered as the Most Influential Global Thinker.
- He was awarded the ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom’ by U.S President Barack Obama, on February 16, 2011.
- He endorsed Barack Obama’s Presidential candidature and also participated in $ 28,500 per plate fund raiser.
- Speeches by Buffett are known for its mix of business with numerous jokes and quotes from sources such as Bible and Mae West.
- He invested $230 million for 10% of battery maker BYD Company, in October 2008. Within a short span of less than a year, his investment reaped him over 500% return.
- In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked him as the richest person with net worth of approximately US$62 billion, while the Yahoo ranked him at top with a net worth of $58 billion. However, he lost his richest person position to Bill Gates, the very next year.
- He has offered to pay $1 million to Berkshire Hathaway employee every year for life, to the one who can pick the winner up to the final 16 teams of NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
- He is a great philanthropist. In 2006, he had donated 83% of his fortune to Bill & Melinda Foundation. It was worth $30.7 billion, making it largest charitable donation in history.
- As an adviser to Nuclear Threat Initiative, in 2002, he donated $50 million to the foundation.
- Buffett along with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, started a campaign inviting wealthy people around the world to contribute towards charity. They promised to donate half of their wealth to the cause. They called it “Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge.”
- He feels health care should be linked to paying for result rather than Fee-for Service. He also feels it should not cross more than 13 to 14% of the GDP.
- It was reported that his MidAmerican Energy Holdings agreed to buy a solar energy project under development for $2 billion in California, along with a 49% stake in a $1.8 billion plant in Arizona, in December 2011. This marks his first investments in solar power.
© 2024 BOOMS Beat, All rights reserved.
Do not reproduce without permission.
Do not reproduce without permission.