fbpx
Wikipedia

Warren Buffett

May 01, 2023

Warren Edward Buffett (/ˈbʌfɪt/ BUF-it; born August 30, 1930)[2] is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the best-known fundamental investors in the world as a result of his immense investment success[3][4] possessing a net worth of $104 billion as of March 2023,[5] making him the fifth-richest person in the world.[5]

Warren Buffett
Buffett in 2015
Born
Warren Edward Buffett

(1930-08-30) August 30, 1930 (age 92)
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania
University of Nebraska–
Lincoln (BS)
Columbia University (MS)
Occupations
  • Businessman
  • investor
  • philanthropist
Years active1951–present
Known forLeadership of Berkshire Hathaway along with Charlie Munger
Political partyDemocratic[1]
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1952; died 2004)​

Astrid Menks
​
​
(m. 2006)​
ChildrenSusan Alice Buffett
Howard Graham Buffett
Peter Buffett
Parent(s)Howard Buffett
Leila Stahl
RelativesHoward Warren Buffett (grandson)
Doris Buffett (sister)
Websitewww.berkshirehathaway.com
Signature

Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He developed an interest in business and investing during his youth, eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring to and graduating from the University of Nebraska at 19. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing pioneered by Benjamin Graham. He attended New York Institute of Finance to focus on his economics background and soon after began various investment business partnerships, including one with Graham. He created Buffett Partnership, Ltd in 1956 and his investment firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway, assuming its name to create a diversified holding company, and later as the company's chairman and majority shareholder in 1970. In 1978, Charlie Munger joined Buffett as vice-chairman.[6][7]

Since 1970, Buffett has presided as the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, one of America's largest holding companies and world's leading corporate conglomerates.[8] He 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.[9][10] He is noted for his adherence to the principles of value investing, and his personal frugality despite his vast wealth.[11]

Buffett is also a noted philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent[12] of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He founded The Giving Pledge in 2010 with Bill Gates, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes.[13]

Early life and education

Buffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, the second of three children and the only son of Leila (née Stahl) and Congressman Howard Buffett.[14] He began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School. 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, D.C., Warren 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".[15] After finishing high school and finding success with his side entrepreneurial and investment ventures, Buffett wanted to skip college to go directly into business but was overruled by his father.[16][17]

Buffett displayed an interest in business and investing at a young age. He was inspired by a book he borrowed from the Omaha public library at age seven, One Thousand Ways to Make $1000.[18] Much of Buffett's early childhood years were enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures. In one of his first business ventures, Buffett sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola, and weekly magazines door to door. He worked in his grandfather's grocery store. While still in high school, he made money delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and stamps, and detailing cars, among other means. On his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route.[19] In 1945, as a high school sophomore, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. Within months, they owned several machines in three different barber shops across Omaha. They later sold the business to a war veteran for a tidy sum of $1200.[20]

 
Investor Benjamin Graham influenced young Buffett.

Buffett's interest in the stock market and investing dated to schoolboy days he spent in the customers' lounge of a regional stock brokerage near his father's own brokerage office. His father took interest in educating the young Warren, at one point taking him to visit the New York Stock Exchange when he was 10.[21] At 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself, and three for his sister Doris Buffett (who also became a philanthropist).[22][23][24] At 15, Warren made more than $175 monthly delivering Washington Post newspapers. In high school, he invested in a business owned by his father and bought a 40-acre farm worked by a tenant farmer.[25] He bought the land when he was 14 years old with $1,200 of his savings.[25] By the time he finished college, Buffett had amassed $9,800 in savings (about $112,000 today).[20][26]

In 1947, Buffett matriculated at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He would have preferred to focus on his business ventures, but enrolled due to pressure from his father.[20] Warren studied there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.[27] He then transferred to the University of Nebraska where at 19, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration. After being rejected by Harvard Business School, Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School of Columbia University upon learning that Benjamin Graham taught there. He earned a Master of Science in economics from Columbia in 1951. After graduating, Buffett attended the New York Institute of Finance.[28]

The basic ideas of investing are to look at stocks as business, use the market's fluctuations to your advantage, and seek a margin of safety. That's what Ben Graham taught us. A hundred years from now they will still be the cornerstones of investing.[29][30][31]

— Warren Buffett

Business career

Further information on Warren Buffett's time at Berkshire Hathaway: List of assets owned by Berkshire Hathaway

Early business career

Buffett worked from 1951 to 1954 at Buffett-Falk & Co. as an investment salesman; from 1954 to 1956 at Graham-Newman Corp. as a securities analyst; from 1956 to 1969 at Buffett Partnership, Ltd. as a general partner; and from 1970 as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

In 1951,[32] Buffett discovered that Graham was on the board of GEICO insurance. Taking a train to Washington, D.C., on a Saturday, he knocked on the door of GEICO's headquarters until a janitor admitted him. There he met Lorimer Davidson, GEICO's vice president, and the two discussed the insurance business for hours. Davidson would eventually become Buffett's lifelong friend and a lasting influence,[33] and would later recall that he found Buffett to be an "extraordinary man" after only fifteen minutes. Buffett wanted to work on Wall Street but both his father and Ben Graham urged him not to. He offered to work for Graham for free, but Graham refused.[34]

Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker while taking a Dale Carnegie public speaking course.[35] Using what he learned, he felt confident enough to teach an "Investment Principles" night class at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The average age of his students was more than twice his own. During this time he also purchased a Sinclair gas station as a side investment but it was unsuccessful.[36]

In 1952,[37] Buffett married Susan Thompson at Dundee Presbyterian Church. The next year they had their first child, Susan Alice. In 1954, Buffett accepted a job at Benjamin Graham's partnership. His starting salary was $12,000 a year (about $121,000 today).[26] There he worked closely with Walter Schloss. Graham was a tough boss. He was adamant that stocks provide a wide margin of safety after weighing the trade-off between their price and their intrinsic value. That same year the Buffetts had their second child, Howard Graham. In 1956, Benjamin Graham retired and closed his partnership. At this time Buffett's personal savings were over $174,000 (about $1.73 million today)[26] and concurrently founded Buffett Partnership Ltd.

 
Buffett's home in Omaha, Nebraska

In 1957, Buffett operated three investment partnerships. He purchased a five-bedroom stucco house in Omaha, where he still lives, for $31,500.[38][39] In 1958 the Buffetts' third child, Peter Andrew, was born. Buffett operated five partnerships that year. In 1959, the company grew to six partnerships and Buffett met future partner Charlie Munger. By 1960, Buffett operated seven investment partnerships. He asked one of his partners, a doctor, to find ten other doctors willing to invest $10,000 each in his partnership. Eventually, eleven agreed, and Buffett pooled their money with a mere $100 original investment of his own.

In 1961, Buffett revealed that 35% of the partnership's assets were invested in the Sanborn Map Company. He explained that Sanborn stock sold for only $45 per share in 1958, but the company's investment portfolio was worth $65 per share. This meant that Sanborn's map business was being valued at "minus $20". Buffett eventually purchased 23% of the company's outstanding shares as an activist investor, obtaining a seat for himself on the board of directors, and allied with other dissatisfied shareholders to control 44% of the shares. To avoid a proxy fight, the board offered to repurchase shares at fair value, paying with a portion of its investment portfolio. 77% of the outstanding shares were turned in.[40][41] Buffett had reaped a 50 percent return on investment in just two years.[42]

Assuming Berkshire

In 1962, Buffett became a millionaire because of his partnerships, which in January 1962 had an excess of $7,178,500, of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Buffett. He merged these partnerships into one. Buffett invested in and eventually took control of a textile manufacturing company, Berkshire Hathaway. He began buying shares in Berkshire from Seabury Stanton, the owner, whom he later fired. Buffett's partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share. In 1965, when Buffett's partnerships began purchasing Berkshire aggressively, they paid $14.86 per share while the company had working capital of $19 per share. This did not include the value of fixed assets (factory and equipment). Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at a board meeting and named a new president, Ken Chace, to run the company. In 1966, Buffett closed the partnership to new money. He later claimed that the textile business had been his worst trade.[43] He 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.

In a second letter, Buffett announced his first investment in a private business — Hochschild, Kohn and Co, a privately owned Baltimore department store. In 1967, Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents.[44] In 1969, Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners including shares of Berkshire Hathaway. In 1970, Buffett began writing his now-famous annual letters to shareholders. He lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year and his outside investment income.

In 1973, Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper and joined its board. In 1974, the SEC opened a formal investigation into Buffett and Berkshire's acquisition of Wesco Financial, due to possible conflict of interest. No charges were brought. In 1977, Berkshire indirectly purchased the Buffalo Evening News for $32.5 million. Antitrust charges started, instigated by its rival, the Buffalo Courier-Express. Both papers lost money until the Courier-Express folded in 1982.

In 1979, Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC. Capital Cities announced a $3.5 billion purchase of ABC on March 18, 1985, surprising the media industry, as ABC was four times bigger than Capital Cities at the time. Buffett helped finance the deal in return for a 25% stake in the combined company.[45] The newly merged company, known as Capital Cities/ABC (or CapCities/ABC), was forced to sell some stations due to Federal Communications Commission ownership rules. The two companies also owned several radio stations in the same markets.[46]

In 1987, Berkshire Hathaway purchased a 12% stake in Salomon Inc., making it the largest shareholder and Buffett a director. In 1990, a scandal involving John Gutfreund (former CEO of Salomon Brothers) surfaced. A rogue trader, Paul Mozer, was submitting bids in excess of what was allowed by Treasury rules. When this was brought to Gutfreund's attention, he did not immediately suspend the rogue trader. Gutfreund left the company in August 1991.[47] Buffett became chairman of Salomon until the crisis passed.[48]

In 1988, Buffett began buying The Coca-Cola Company stock, eventually purchasing up to 7% of the company for $1.02 billion.[49] It would turn out to be one of Berkshire's most lucrative investments and one which it still holds.[50]

As a billionaire

Buffett became a billionaire when Berkshire Hathaway began selling class A shares on May 29, 1990, with the market closing at $7,175 a share.[51] In 1998 he acquired General Re (Gen Re) as a subsidiary in a deal that presented difficulties—according to the Rational Walk investment website, "underwriting standards proved to be inadequate", while a "problematic derivatives book" was resolved after numerous years and a significant loss.[52] Gen Re later provided reinsurance after Buffett became involved with Maurice R. Greenberg at AIG in 2002.[53]

 
Buffett meets with President Barack Obama at the White House in July 2011.

During a 2005 investigation of an accounting fraud case involving AIG, Gen Re executives became implicated. On March 15, 2005, the AIG board forced Greenberg to resign from his post as chairman and CEO after New York state regulators claimed that AIG had engaged in questionable transactions and improper accounting.[54] On February 9, 2006, AIG agreed to pay a $1.6 billion fine.[55] In 2010, the U.S. government agreed to a $92 million settlement with Gen Re, allowing the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary to avoid prosecution in the AIG case. Gen Re also made a commitment to implement "corporate governance concessions", which required Berkshire Hathaway's chief financial officer to attend General Re's audit committee meetings and mandated the appointment of an independent director.[52]

In 2002, Buffett entered in $11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver U.S. dollars against other currencies. By April 2006, his total gain on these contracts was over $2 billion. Buffett announced in June 2006 that he would gradually give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, starting in July 2006—the largest contribution going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[56]

In 2007, in a letter to shareholders, Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor, or perhaps successors, to run his investment business.[57]

2007–08 financial crisis

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.[58] "Buy American. I am." he wrote for an opinion piece published in the New York Times in 2008.[59] Buffett called the downturn in the financial sector that started in 2007 "poetic justice".[60] Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway suffered a 77% drop in earnings during Q3 2008 and several of his later deals suffered large mark-to-market losses.[61]

Berkshire Hathaway acquired 10% perpetual preferred stock of Goldman Sachs.[62] Some of Buffett's put options (European exercise at expiry only) that he wrote (sold) were running at around $6.73 billion mark-to-market losses as of late 2008.[63] The scale of the potential loss prompted the SEC to demand that Berkshire produce, "a more robust disclosure" of factors used to value the contracts.[63] Buffett also helped Dow Chemical pay for its $18.8 billion takeover of Rohm & Haas. He thus became the single largest shareholder in the enlarged group with his Berkshire Hathaway, which provided $3 billion, underlining his instrumental role during the crisis in debt and equity markets.[64]

In 2008, Buffett became the richest person in the world, with a total net worth estimated at $62 billion[65] by Forbes and at $58 billion[66] by Yahoo, overtaking Bill Gates, who had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years.[67] In 2009, Gates regained the top position on the Forbes list, with Buffett shifted to second place. Both of the men's values dropped, to $40 billion and $37 billion respectively—according to Forbes, Buffett lost $25 billion over a 12-month period during 2008/2009.[68]

In October 2008, the media reported that Buffett had agreed to buy General Electric (GE) preferred stock.[69] The operation included special incentives: he received an option to buy three billion shares of GE stock, at $22.25, over the five years following the agreement, and Buffett also received a 10% dividend (callable within three years). In February 2009, Buffett sold some Procter & Gamble Co. and Johnson & Johnson shares from his personal portfolio.[70]

In addition to suggestions of mistiming, the wisdom in keeping some of Berkshire's major holdings, including The Coca-Cola Company, which in 1998 peaked at $86, raised questions. Buffett discussed the difficulties of knowing when to sell in the company's 2004 annual report:

That may seem easy to do when one looks through an always-clean, rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, however, it's the windshield through which investors must peer, and that glass is invariably fogged.[71]

In March 2009, Buffett said in a cable television interview that the economy had "fallen off a cliff ... Not only has the economy slowed down a lot, but people have really changed their habits like I haven't seen". Additionally, Buffett feared that inflation levels that occurred in the 1970s—which led to years of painful stagflation—might re-emerge.[72][73]

A capitalized Berkshire

On August 14, 2014, the price of Berkshire Hathaway's shares hit $200,000 a share for the first time, capitalizing the company at $328 billion. While Buffett had given away much of his stock to charities by this time, he still held 321,000 shares worth $64.2 billion. On August 20, 2014, Berkshire Hathaway was fined $896,000 for failing to report December 9, 2013, purchase of shares in USG Corporation as required.[74]

In 2009, Buffett invested $2.6 billion as a part of Swiss Re's campaign to raise equity capital.[75][76] Berkshire Hathaway already owned a 3% stake, with rights to own more than 20%.[77] Also in 2009, Buffett acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for $34 billion in cash and stock. Alice Schroeder, author of Snowball, said that a key reason for the purchase was to diversify Berkshire Hathaway from the financial industry.[78] Measured by market capitalization in the Financial Times Global 500, Berkshire Hathaway was the eighteenth largest corporation in the world as of June 2009.[79]

In 2009, Buffett divested his failed investment in ConocoPhillips, saying to his Berkshire investors,

I bought a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak. I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year. I still believe the odds are good that oil sells far higher in the future than the current $40–$50 price. But so far I have been dead wrong. Even if prices should rise, moreover, the terrible timing of my purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars.[80]

The merger with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) closed upon BNSF shareholder approval during Q1 of 2010. This deal was valued at approximately $44 billion (with $10 billion of outstanding BNSF debt) and represented an increase of the previously existing stake of 22%.[81][82] In June 2010, Buffett defended the credit-rating agencies for their role in the US financial crisis, claiming:

Very, very few people could appreciate the bubble. That's the nature of bubbles – they're mass delusions.[83]

On March 18, 2011, Goldman Sachs was given Federal Reserve approval to buy back Berkshire's preferred stock in Goldman. Buffett had been reluctant to give up the stock, which averaged $1.4 million in dividends per day,[84][85] saying:

I'm going to be the Osama bin Laden of capitalism. I'm on my way to an unknown destination in Asia where I'm going to look for a cave. If the U.S. Armed forces can't find Osama bin Laden in 10 years, let Goldman Sachs try to find me.[86]

In November 2011, it was announced that over the course of the previous eight months, Buffett had bought 64 million shares of International Business Machine Corp (IBM) stock, worth around $11 billion. This unanticipated investment raised his stake in the company to around 5.5 percent—the largest stake in IBM alongside that of State Street Global Advisors. 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. During the interview, in which he revealed the investment to the public, Buffett stated that he was impressed by the company's ability to retain corporate clients and said, "I don't know of any large company that really has been as specific on what they intend to do and how they intend to do it as IBM".[87]

In May 2012, Buffett's acquisition of Media General, consisting of 63 newspapers in the south-eastern U.S., was announced.[88] The company was the second news print purchase made by Buffett in one year.[89]

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, U.S. 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. The Press of Atlantic City became Berkshire's 30th daily newspaper, following other purchases such as Virginia, U.S.' Roanoke Times and The Tulsa World in Oklahoma, U.S.[90]

During a presentation to Georgetown University students in Washington, D.C., in late September 2013, Buffett compared the U.S. Federal Reserve to a hedge fund and stated that the bank is generating "$80 billion or $90 billion a year probably" in revenue for the U.S. government. Buffett also advocated further on the issue of wealth equality in society:

We have learned to turn out lots of goods and services, but we haven't learned as well how to have everybody share in the bounty. The obligation of a society as prosperous as ours is to figure out how nobody gets left too far behind.[91]

After the difficulties of the economic crisis, Buffett managed to bring its company back to its pre-recession standards: in Q2 2014, Berkshire Hathaway made $6.4 billion in net profit, the most it had ever made in a three-month period.[92]

COVID-19 pandemic

In a June 2021 interview with CNBC, Buffet said that the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased economic inequality and bemoaned that most people are unaware that "hundreds of thousands or millions" of small businesses have been negatively impacted. He also 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. He said the unpredictability and the effects of COVID-19 are far from over.[93]

Investment philosophy

Warren Buffett's writings include his annual reports and various articles. Buffett is recognized by communicators[94] as a great story-teller, as evidenced by his annual letters to shareholders. He has warned about the pernicious effects of inflation:[95]

The arithmetic makes it plain that inflation is a far more devastating tax than anything that has been enacted by our legislatures. The inflation tax has a fantastic ability to simply consume capital. It makes no difference to a widow with her savings in a 5 percent passbook account whether she pays 100 percent income tax on her interest income during a period of zero inflation, or pays no income taxes during years of 5 percent inflation.

— Buffett, Fortune (1977)

In his article, "The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville", Buffett rebutted the academic efficient-market hypothesis, that beating the S&P 500 was "pure chance", by highlighting the results achieved by a number of students of the Graham and Dodd value investing school of thought. In addition to himself, Buffett named Walter J. Schloss, Tom Knapp, Ed Anderson (Tweedy, Browne LLC), William J. Ruane (Sequoia Fund), Charlie Munger (Buffett's partner at Berkshire), Rick Guerin (Pacific Partners Ltd.), and Stan Perlmeter (Perlmeter Investments).[96] In his November 1999 Fortune article, he warned of investors' unrealistic expectations:[97]

Let me summarize what I've been saying about the stock market: I think it's very hard to come up with a persuasive case that equities will over the next 17 years perform anything like—anything like—they've performed in the past 17. If I had to pick the most probable return, from appreciation and dividends combined, that investors in aggregate—repeat, aggregate—would earn in a world of constant interest rates, 2% inflation, and those ever hurtful frictional costs, it would be 6%!

— Buffett, Fortune (1999)

Index funds vis-à-vis active management

Buffett has been a supporter of index funds for people who are either not interested in managing their own money or don't have the time. 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. 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".[98] In 2007, Buffett made a bet with numerous managers that a simple S&P 500 index fund will outperform hedge funds that charge exorbitant fees. By 2017, the index fund was outperforming every hedge fund that made the bet against Buffett.[98]

Using investment banks

Buffet has a long-standing aversion to using the services of investment banks via Berkshire Hathaway.[99] This dynamic was also reported in Barron's,[100] Insider,[101] and Seeking Alpha,[102] among others.

Personal life

 
Buffett with Gary Green in 2010

In 1949, Buffett developed a crush on a young woman whose boyfriend had a ukulele. In an attempt to compete, he bought one of the instruments and has been playing it ever since. Though the attempt to capture her attention was unsuccessful, his music interest became a key part of his becoming a part of Susan Thompson's life, and led to their marriage. Buffett often plays the instrument at stockholder meetings and other opportunities. His love of the instrument led to the commissioning of two custom Dairy Queen ukuleles by Dave Talsma, one of which was auctioned for charity.[103]

Buffett married Susan Buffett (born Thompson) in 1952. They had three children, Susie, Howard and Peter. The couple began living separately in 1977, although they remained married until Susan Buffett's death in July 2004. Their daughter, Susie, lives in Omaha, is a national board member of Girls, Inc., and does charitable work through the Susan A. Buffett Foundation.[104]

In 2006, on his 76th birthday, Buffett married his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, who was then 60 years old—she had lived with him since his wife's departure to San Francisco in 1977.[105][106] Susan had arranged for the two to meet before she left Omaha to pursue her singing career. All three were close and Christmas cards to friends were signed "Warren, Susie and Astrid".[107] Susan briefly discussed this relationship in an interview on the Charlie Rose Show shortly before her death, in a rare glimpse into Buffett's personal life.[108]

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. Although his first wife referred to Nicole as one of her "adored grandchildren",[109] Buffett wrote Nicole a letter stating, "I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin".[110][111][112]

His 2006 annual salary was about $100,000, which is small compared to senior executive remuneration in comparable companies.[113] In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $175,000, which included a base salary of just $100,000.[114] He continued to live in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, a fraction of today's value. He also owned a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California,[115] which he purchased for $150,000 in 1971. He sold it for $7.5 million in 2018.[116] In 1989, after spending nearly $6.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a private jet, Buffett named it "The Indefensible". This act was a break from his past condemnation of extravagant purchases by other CEOs and his history of using more public transportation.[117]

Bridge is such a sensational game that I wouldn't mind being in jail if I had three cellmates who were decent players and who were willing to keep the game going twenty-four hours a day.

—Buffett on bridge[118]

Buffett is an avid bridge player, which he plays with fellow fan Gates[119]—he is said to spend 12 hours a week playing the game.[120] In 2006, he sponsored a bridge match for the Buffett Cup. Modeled on the Ryder Cup in golf—held immediately before it in the same city—the teams are chosen by invitation, with a female team and five male teams provided by each country.[121]

He is a dedicated, lifelong follower of Nebraska football, and attends as many games as his schedule permits. He supported the hire of Bo Pelini, following the 2007 season, stating, "It was getting kind of desperate around here".[122] He watched the 2009 game against Oklahoma from the Nebraska sideline, after being named an honorary assistant coach.[123]

Buffett was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2009.[124]

Buffett worked with Christopher Webber on an animated series called "Secret Millionaires Club" with chief Andy Heyward of DiC Entertainment. The series features Buffett and Munger and teaches children healthy financial habits.[125][126]

Buffett was raised as a Presbyterian, but has since described himself as agnostic.[127] In December 2006, it was reported that Buffett did not carry a mobile phone, did not have a computer at his desk, and drove his own automobile,[128] a Cadillac DTS.[129] In contrast to that, at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting, he stated he uses Google as his preferred search engine.[130] In 2013 he had an old Nokia flip phone and had sent one email in his entire life.[131] In February 2020, Buffett revealed in a CNBC interview that he had traded in his flip phone for an iPhone 11.[132] Buffett reads five newspapers every day, beginning with the Omaha World Herald, which his company acquired in 2011.

Buffett's speeches are known for mixing business discussions with humor. Each year, 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". Berkshire's annual reports and letters to shareholders, prepared by Buffett, frequently receive coverage by the financial media. Buffett's writings are known for containing quotations from sources as varied as the Bible and Mae West,[133] as well as advice in a folksy, Midwestern style and numerous jokes.

In April 2017, Buffett (an avid Coca-Cola drinker and shareholder in the company) agreed to have his likeness placed on Cherry Coke products in China. Buffett was not compensated for this advertisement.[134][135]

Buffett is very distantly related to the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama.[136]

Health

On April 11, 2012, Buffett was diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer during a routine test.[137] He announced he would begin two months of daily radiation treatment from mid-July. In a letter to shareholders, Buffett said he felt "great – as if I were in my normal excellent health – and my energy level is 100 percent".[137] On September 15, 2012, 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".[138]

Wealth and philanthropy

 
Buffett, Kathy Ireland and Bill Gates at the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting

In 2008, Buffett was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately $62 billion.[139] In 2009, after donating billions of dollars to charity, he was ranked as the second richest man in the United States with a net worth of $37 billion[140][141] with only Bill Gates ranked higher than Buffett. His net worth had risen to $58.5 billion as of September 2013.[142]

In 1999, 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.[143] In 2007, he was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in the world.[144] In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[145] Buffett, along with Bill Gates, was named the most influential global thinker in Foreign Policy's 2010 report.[146]

Buffett has written several times of his belief that, in a market economy, the rich earn outsized rewards for their talents.[147] His children will not inherit a significant proportion of his wealth. He 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".[148]

Buffett had long stated his intention to give away his fortune to charity, and in June 2006, he announced a new plan to give 83% of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).[149] He pledged about the equivalent of 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (worth approximately $30.7 billion as of June 23, 2006),[150] making it the largest charitable donation in history, and Buffett one of the leaders of philanthrocapitalism.[151] The foundation will receive 5% of the total each July, beginning in 2006. The pledge is conditional upon three requirements:

  • Bill or Melinda Gates must be alive and active in BMGF
  • BMGF must continue to qualify as a charity
  • Each year BMGF must give away an amount equal to the prior year's Berkshire gift plus the additional 5% of net assets as required of all US foundations

Buffett joined the Gates Foundation's board, but did not plan to be actively involved in the foundation's investments.[152][153] Buffett announced his resignation as a trustee of the Gates Foundation on June 23, 2021.[154]

This represented a significant shift from Buffett's previous statements, to the effect that most of his fortune would pass to his Buffett Foundation.[155] The bulk of the estate of his wife, valued at $2.6 billion, went there when she died in 2004.[156] He also pledged $50 million to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in Washington, where he began serving as an adviser in 2002.[157]

In 2006, he auctioned his 2001 Lincoln Town Car[158] on eBay to raise money for Girls, Inc.[159] In 2007, he auctioned a luncheon with himself that raised a final bid of $650,100 for the Glide Foundation.[160] Later auctions raised $2.1 million[161][162] $1.7 million[163] and $3.5 million. The winners traditionally dine with Buffett at New York's Smith and Wollensky steak house. The restaurant donates at least $10,000 to Glide each year to host the meal.[164]

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". On C-SPAN BookTV, Nader said Buffett invited him to breakfast after the book came out and was "quite intrigued by the book". He also told Nader of his plan to get "billionaires all over the world to donate 50% of their estate to charity or good works".[165] On December 9, 2010, Buffett, Bill Gates, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed a promise they called the "Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge", in which they promise to donate to charity at least half of their wealth, and invite other wealthy people to follow suit.[13][166] In 2018, after making almost $3.4 billion donations,[167] Buffett was ranked 3rd in the Forbes' List of Billionaire 2018.[168]

Warren Buffett continues to help fund and support his family's individual foundations which include Susan Buffett's Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Susan Alice Buffett's Sherwood Foundation, Howard Graham Buffett's Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and Peter Buffett's NoVo Foundation.[169][170] Warren Buffett was also supportive of his sister Doris Buffett's Letters Foundation and Learning By Giving Foundation.[171][172]

In November 2022, Warren Buffett made a donation of $750 million in Berkshire Hathaway shares to four charitable foundations run by his children. 1.5 million Class B shares of his conglomerate to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his first wife. He also 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.[173]

Political and public policy views

 
Buffett and President Obama in the Oval Office, July 14, 2010

In addition to political contributions over the years, Buffett endorsed and made campaign contributions to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. On July 2, 2008, Buffett attended a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Obama's campaign in Chicago.[174] Buffett intimated that John McCain's views on social justice were so far from his own that McCain would need a "lobotomy" for Buffett to change his endorsement.[175] During the second 2008 U.S. presidential debate, McCain and Obama, after being asked first by presidential debate mediator Tom Brokaw, both mentioned Buffett as a possible future Secretary of the Treasury.[176] Later, in the third and final presidential debate, Obama mentioned Buffett as a potential economic advisor.[177] Buffett was also a financial advisor to Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 California gubernatorial election.[178]

On December 16, 2015, Buffett endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president.[179] On August 1, 2016, Buffett challenged Donald Trump to release his tax returns.[180][181] On October 10, 2016, after a reference to him in the second presidential debate, Buffett released his own tax return.[182][183] He said he had paid $1.85 million in federal income taxes in 2015 on an adjusted gross income of $11.6 million, meaning he had an effective federal income tax rate of around 16 percent. Buffett also said he had made more than $2.8 billion worth of donations last year.[183] In response to Trump saying he was unable to release his tax information due to being under audit, Buffett said, "I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump — at least he would have no legal problem."[183]

Buffett has said he would judge President Donald Trump by his results on national safety, economic growth and economic participation when deciding if he would vote for him in the 2020 presidential election.[184][185]

Health care

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.[186] Buffett compared health care costs to a tapeworm, saying that they compromise US economic competitiveness by increasing manufacturing costs.[186] Buffett said in 2010 that it was not sustainable for the U.S. to devote 17% of its GDP to healthcare expenditure, noting that many other nations spent a much smaller proportion of their GDP on health expenditures, with better healthcare outcomes.[187] 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 also said that other countries spend much less and receive much more in health care value (visits, hospital beds, doctors and nurses per capita).[188]

Buffett faults the incentives in the United States medical industry, that payers reimburse doctors for procedures (fee-for-service) leading to unnecessary care (overutilization), instead of paying for results.[189] He cited Atul Gawande's 2009 article in the New Yorker[190] as a useful consideration of US health care, with its documentation of unwarranted variation in Medicare expenditures between McAllen, Texas and El Paso, Texas.[189] Buffett raised the problem of lobbying by the medical industry, saying that they are very focused on maintaining their income.[191]

Curbing population growth

Buffett has expressed concerns about unchecked population growth. In 2009, he met with several other billionaires to discuss healthcare, education and slowing population growth. Called "The Good Club" by an insider, the billionaires had given away $45 billion to philanthropic causes and included Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bloomberg and David Rockefeller, Jr.[192] The meeting has drawn criticism from some right-wing blogs, with some believing the group to be a part of a secret sterilization society.[193]

Buffett is a long time supporter of family planning. The Buffett Foundation has given over $1.5 billion to abortion research to include $427 million to Planned Parenthood.[194]

Taxes

See also: Buffett Rule
President Obama announcing the "Buffett Rule"

Buffett stated that he only paid 19 percent of his income for 2006 ($48.1 million) in total federal taxes (due to their source as dividends and capital gains), while his employees paid 33 percent of theirs, despite making much less money.[195] "How can this be fair?", Buffett asked, regarding how little he pays in taxes compared to his employees. "How can this be right?". He also added, "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning".[196][197] After Donald Trump accused him of taking "massive deductions", Buffett countered, "I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward".[198]

Buffett favors the inheritance tax, saying that repealing it would be like "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics".[199] In 2007, Buffett testified before the Senate and urged them to preserve the estate tax so as to avoid a plutocracy.[200] Some critics argued that Buffett (through Berkshire Hathaway) 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.[201]

Buffett believes government should not be in the business of gambling, or legalizing casinos, calling it a tax on ignorance.[202]

Dollar and gold

The trade deficit induced Buffett to enter the foreign currency market for the first time in 2002. He substantially reduced his stake in 2005 as changing interest rates increased the costs of holding currency contracts. Buffett remained bearish on the dollar, stating that he was looking to acquire companies with substantial foreign revenues. Buffett has been critical of gold as an investment, with his critique being based primarily on its non-productive nature. In a 1998 address at Harvard, Buffett said:

It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.

In 1977, about stocks, gold, farmland and inflation, he stated:

Stocks are probably still the best of all the poor alternatives in an era of inflation – at least they are if you buy in at appropriate prices.[203]

China

Buffett invested in PetroChina Company Limited and in a rare move, posted a commentary[204] on Berkshire Hathaway's website stating why he would not divest over its connection with the Sudanese civil war that caused Harvard to divest. He 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.

In October 2008, Buffett invested $230 million for 10% of battery maker BYD Company (SEHK: 1211), which runs a subsidiary of electric automobile manufacturer BYD Auto. In less than one year, the investment reaped over 500% return.[205]

In May 2018, BYD's shares had a substantial fall with a total net investment loss of $9 billion. This was Buffett's worst investment in China.[206]

Tobacco

During the RJR Nabisco, Inc. hostile takeover fight in 1987, Buffett was quoted as telling John Gutfreund:[207]

I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty.

— Buffett, quoted in Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

Speaking at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s 1994 annual meeting, Buffett said investments in tobacco are:[208]

fraught with questions that relate to societal attitudes and those of the present administration. I would not like to have a significant percentage of my net worth invested in tobacco businesses. The economy of the business may be fine, but that doesn't mean it has a bright future.

— Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting

Coal

In 2007, Buffett's PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of his MidAmerican Energy Company, canceled six proposed coal-fired power plants. These included Utah's Intermountain Power Project Unit 3, Jim Bridger Unit 5, and four proposed plants previously included in PacifiCorp's Integrated Resource Plan. The cancellations came in the wake of pressure from regulators and citizen groups.[209]

Renewable energy

Native American tribes and salmon fishermen sought to win support from Buffett for a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River owned by PacifiCorp which is a Berkshire Hathaway company. David Sokol responded on Buffett's behalf, stating that the FERC would decide the question.[210][211]

Expensing of stock options

He has been a strong proponent of stock option expensing on corporate income statements. At the 2004 annual meeting, he lambasted a bill before the United States Congress that would consider only some company-issued stock options compensation as an expense, likening the bill to one that was almost passed by the Indiana House of Representatives to change the value of Pi from 3.14159 to 3.2 through legislative fiat.[212]

When a company gives something of value to its employees in return for their services, it is clearly a compensation expense. And if expenses don't belong in the earnings statement, where in the world do they belong?[213]

Technology

In May 2012, Buffett said he had avoided buying stock in new social media companies such as Facebook and Google because it is hard to estimate future value. He also stated that initial public offering (IPO) of stock are almost always bad investments. Investors should be looking to companies that will have good value in ten years.[214]

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies

In an interview with CNBC in January 2018, Buffett said that the recent craze over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies won't end well, adding that "when it happens or how or anything else, I don't know". But he said he would not take a short position on bitcoin futures.[215]

Film and television

Aside from countless television appearances on various news programs, Buffett has appeared in numerous films and TV programs, both documentary, and fiction. Some film and television cameos he has made include Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), The Office (U.S.), All My Children, and Entourage (2015).[216] He has been a guest 10 times on Charlie Rose, and was the subject of the HBO documentary feature Becoming Warren Buffett (2017) and the BBC production The World's Greatest Money Maker (2009).

Bibliography

 
Buffett playing cards with Bill Gates at Borsheims during the 2018 shareholder's weekend

Books about Buffett

In October 2008, USA Today reported at least 47 books were in print with Buffett's name in the title. The article quoted the CEO of Borders Books, George Jones, as saying that the only other living persons named in as many book titles were U.S. presidents, world political figures and the Dalai Lama.[217] Buffett said that his own personal favorite is a collection of his essays called The Essays of Warren Buffett,[218] which he described as "a coherent rearrangement of ideas from my annual report letters".[217]

Books or publications by Buffett:

  • The Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America, Warren Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham, The Cunningham Group; revised edition (April 11, 2001). ISBN 978-0-9664461-1-1.
  • The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition, Warren E. Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham, The Cunningham Group; 2nd edition (April 14, 2008). ISBN 978-0-9664461-2-8.

Some best-selling, or otherwise notable, books about Buffett:

  • Carol J. Loomis, Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966–2012: A Fortune Magazine Book.
  • Preston Pysh, Warren Buffett's Three Favorite Books[219] (an interactive book that references Buffett's Books for online videos).[217]
  • Roger Lowenstein, Buffett, Making of an American Capitalist.
  • Robert Hagstrom, The Warren Buffett Way.[217][220]
  • Alice Schroeder, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life[221] (written with Buffett's cooperation).[222]
  • Mary Buffett and David Clark, Buffettology[223] and four subsequent books (combined sales of more than 1.5 million copies).[217]
  • Janet Lowe, Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor.[224]
  • John Train, The Midas Touch: The Strategies That Have Made Warren Buffett 'America's Preeminent Investor'.[225]
  • Andrew Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett[226] (the longest of the books about Buffett, with 330 chapters, 1,874 pages and 1,400 photos, weighing 10.2 pounds).[217]
  • Robert P. Miles (2004). Warren Buffett Wealth: Principles and Practical Methods Used by the World's Greatest Investor. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-46511-9.
  • John P. Reese, "The Guru Investor: How to Beat the Market Using History's Best Investment Strategies"[227] (includes step-by-step stock-picking method based on Buffett's approach).
  • Tavakoli, Janet M. (January 6, 2009). Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-44273-9.
  • Janjigian, Vahan (May 1, 2008). Even Buffett Isn't Perfect: What You Can--and Can't--Learn from the World's Greatest Investor. Penguin. ISBN 9781440631474.

See also

References

  1. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (February 24, 2020). "Warren Buffett says 'I'm a Democrat,' and would have 'no trouble' voting for Bloomberg". Reuters. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  2. ^ "Warren Buffett Biography". Biography.com (FYI/A&E Networks). from the original on January 28, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  3. ^ . Incademy Investor Education. Harriman House Ltd. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  4. ^ Farrington, Robert (April 22, 2011). "The top 10 investors of all time". The College Investor. The College Investor, LLC. from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Warren Buffett". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  6. ^ "Charlie Munger". Cnn.com. June 11, 2014. from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  7. ^ Clifford, Catherine (February 26, 2018). "Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett remembers meeting Charlie Munger". Cnbc.com. from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  8. ^ "The Greatest Investors: Warren Buffett". Investopedia.com. from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  9. ^ Markels, Alex (July 29, 2007). . U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013.
  10. ^ Sullivan, Aline (December 20, 1997). "Buffett, the Sage of Omaha, Makes Value Strategy Seem Simple: Secrets of a High Plains Investor". International Herald Tribune. from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  11. ^ Gogoi, Pallavi (May 8, 2007). "What Warren Buffett might buy". NBC News. from the original on March 20, 2013. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
  12. ^ Buffett, Warren (June 16, 2010). "My philanthropic pledge". CNN. from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  13. ^ a b "US billionaires pledge 50% of their wealth to charity". BBC. August 4, 2010. from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  14. ^ Blair, Elliot (January 29, 2004). "Nebraska family clashes over love, money and death". USA Today. from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  15. ^ "Warren Buffett's High School Yearbook Totally Nailed What He Would Be When He Grew Up". Business Insider. from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  16. ^ Robert G. Hagstrom. "The Warren Buffett Way". Wiley Publishers. p. 29. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  17. ^ Hagstrom, Robert (2001). The Essential Buffett: Timeless Principles for the New Economy. Wiley. p. 24.
  18. ^ Levere, Jane (January 30, 2017). "New HBO Documentary On Warren Buffett Uses Family Photos, Home Movies To Reveal His Life Story". Forbes. from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2017. A voracious reader his entire life, at age seven he read a book he borrowed from the library, One Thousand Ways to Make $1000, and, inspired by its lessons, began selling Coca-Cola, gum and newspapers.
  19. ^ "Buffett 'becomes world's richest'". BBC. March 6, 2008. from the original on March 9, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  20. ^ a b c "Warren Buffett Timeline". About Money. Retrieved April 30, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  21. ^ Cross, Mary (2013). 100 People Who Changed 20th-Century America, Vol. 1. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 451. ISBN 978-1-61069-085-0.
  22. ^ "Doris Buffett works one-on-one to help with billionaire brother's charity, May 27, 2014". The Christian Science Monitor. May 27, 2014. from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  23. ^ . Fool.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  24. ^ Robert P. Miles (2004). Warren Buffett wealth: principles and practical methods used by the world's greatest investor. John Wiley and Sons. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-471-46511-9.
  25. ^ a b Cai, Charlie X.; Keasey, Kevin (2022). The Experts and the Evidence: A Practical Guide to Stock Investing. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-119-84255-2.
  26. ^ a b c 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  27. ^ Gheen, Kate. "Alpha Sigma Phi comes back to Penn". Thedp.com. from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  28. ^ "History". Warrenbuffett.com. from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  29. ^ Hagstrom 2005, p. 14 Warren Buffett is now the richest man in the world with $65 billion. GE Raises $15 billion; Buffett Gets Preferred Stake (Update3)
  30. ^ Heath, Jason (April 24, 2012). "What Warren Buffett's cancer diagnosis can teach investors". Financial Post. from the original on July 9, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  31. ^ Cabot Heritage Corporation (January 15, 2013). "Who is Warren Buffett?". NASDAQ. from the original on May 19, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  32. ^ "GEICO's Story From the Beginning | GEICO". www.geico.com. from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  33. ^ Lowenstein, Roger (1996). Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist. p. 43. ISBN 0-385-48491-7.
  34. ^ "Lecture at the University of Florida School of Business – Transcript (PDF document)" (PDF). Intelligent Investor. October 15, 1998. (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2010. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  35. ^ ""Person to Person": Warren Buffett". CBS News. from the original on November 20, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  36. ^ Schroeder, Alice (2008). The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. Bantam Dell. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-553-80509-3.
  37. ^ Schudel, Matt (July 30, 2004). "Susan T. Buffett, 72, Dies; Wife of Billionaire Investor". The Washington Post. p. B06. from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2009.
  38. ^ "Billionaire Houses". Forbes. from the original on October 17, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  39. ^ Poppick, Susie (May 1, 2016). "This Is How Much It Costs to Live Next Door to Warren Buffett". Money.com. from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  40. ^ Buffett, Warren. "Letter from Warren Buffett to Partners, 1960".
  41. ^ "Buffett Partnership Letter Series – 1960 (Part 2)". NASDAQ. November 6, 2012. from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  42. ^ Lowenstein, Roger (1995). Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (2008 Trade Paperback ed.). New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks. pp. 65–66. ISBN 9780804150606.
  43. ^ Buffett's Worst Trade. CNBC. October 18, 2010.
  44. ^ Graham Kenny (August 3, 2009). Diversification Strategy: How to Grow a Business by Diversifying Successfully. Kogan Page Publishers. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-7494-5833-1.
  45. ^ Kleinfield, N.R. "ABC is being sold for $3.5 billion; 1st network sale" August 22, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times, March 19, 1985.
  46. ^ "Capcities + ABC". Broadcasting, March 25, 1985, pp. 31-35.
  47. ^ . Mbaa.fuqua.duke.edu. Archived from the original on June 18, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  48. ^ "Securities Trading Investigation". C-SPAN. September 4, 1991. from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  49. ^ "Learn About the Life and Business of Billionaire, Warren Buffett". The Balance. from the original on March 4, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  50. ^ CFP, Matthew Frankel (November 13, 2017). "8 Warren Buffett Deals That Won Big". The Motley Fool. from the original on September 5, 2019. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
  51. ^ "Berkshire Hathaway Inc. historical prices". Google Finance. from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  52. ^ a b "General Re Settlement in AIG Case Closes Difficult Chapter". The Rational Walk. The Rational Walk. January 21, 2010. from the original on July 23, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  53. ^ Warren E. Buffett (February 21, 2003). "Berkshire's Corporate Performance vs. the S&P 500" (PDF). Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway. (PDF) from the original on September 28, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  54. ^ Diane Brady, Marcia Vickers, Mike McNamee (April 10, 2005). "AIG: What Went Wrong". Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg LP. from the original on September 16, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  55. ^ "AIG to Pay $800 Million to Settle Securities Fraud Charges by SEC; Over $1.6 billion to be Paid to Resolve Federal and New York State Actions". Securities and Exchange Commission. February 9, 2006. from the original on June 10, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  56. ^ Loomis, Carol J. (June 25, 2006). "Warren Buffett gives away his fortune". Fortune.
  57. ^ "HELP WANTED: Warren Buffett Replacement". ABC News. from the original on May 22, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  58. ^ Crippen, Alex. "WSJ to Warren Buffett: "Time to Get a New Crystal Ball"". CNBC. from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  59. ^ Buffett, Warren E. (October 16, 2008). "Buy American. I am". The New York Times. from the original on November 26, 2012. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
  60. ^ Dabrowski, Wojtek (February 7, 2008). "Buffett: Bank woes are "poetic justice"". Reuters. from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  61. ^ "Even Buffett Can't Escape Markets, Storms; Berkshire Profit Falls 77%". Insurance Journal. November 9, 2008. from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  62. ^ Press Release. . Goldman Sachs. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  63. ^ a b Stempel, Jonathan (November 24, 2008). "Buffett to disclose more on derivatives". Reuters. from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
  64. ^ Fontanella, James (July 11, 2008). "ftalphaville.ft.com, Buffett helps Dow pay $19bn for R&H". Financial Times. from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  65. ^ "#1 Warren Buffett". Forbes. March 5, 2008. from the original on February 11, 2011. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  66. ^ . Reuters. October 10, 2008. Archived from the original on October 14, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
  67. ^ "The World's Billionaires". Forbes. March 5, 2008. from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  68. ^ . Forbes. February 13, 2009. Archived from the original on June 2, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  69. ^ Clark, Andrew (October 1, 2008). "Warren Buffett to buy $3bn of General Electric preferred stock". The Guardian. from the original on September 15, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  70. ^ "Berkshire Hathaway unloads J&J and P&G". The Financial Express. February 17, 2009. from the original on October 15, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  71. ^ Schroeder, Alice The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life ISBN 0-553-80509-6 Bantam Sept 2008
  72. ^ Josh Funk, "Buffett says nation will face higher unemployment" June 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, AP on Seattle Times, March 9, 2009. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  73. ^ "Buffett: The economy has 'fallen off a cliff'" September 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, MSN, March 9, 2009. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
  74. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (August 20, 2014) UPDATE 3-U.S. fines Berkshire over stock deal, Buffett admits mistake October 17, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Reuters.com. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  75. ^ Lionel Laurent (February 5, 2009). . Forbes. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  76. ^ Jolly, David (February 5, 2009). "Swiss Re Gets $2.6 billion From Berkshire Hathaway". The New York Times. from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  77. ^ Haig Simonian, Francesco Guerrera (February 5, 2009). "Swiss Re turns to Buffett for new funding". Financial Times. from the original on August 29, 2010. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
  78. ^ "Alice Schroeder on Buffett and BNI; Which Company Will Berkshire Hathaway Acquire Next?". GuruFocus.com. from the original on November 22, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  79. ^ FTGlobal500.pdf June 2009, Financial Times
  80. ^ "Warren Buffett's Multi-Billion Mistake with ConocoPhillips (COP)". Gurufocus.com. from the original on March 4, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  81. ^ "Buffett buying Burlington rail in his biggest deal". Reuters. from the original on June 23, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  82. ^ "Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to Acquire Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF) for $100 Per Share in Cash and Stock" (Press release). Business Wire. from the original on June 23, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  83. ^ "Credit rating agencies not to blame for crisis says Buffett". Insideireland.ie. June 3, 2010. Archived from the original on August 2, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  84. ^ Quick, Becky (March 20, 2011). "Berkshire Will Not Exercise Goldman Sachs Warrants Immediately". CNBC. from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  85. ^ Harper, Christine (March 18, 2011). "Goldman Sachs to Pay $5.65 billion to Redeem Buffett's Stake". Business Week. from the original on April 24, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  86. ^ Quick, Becky (March 20, 2011). "Where Will Warren Buffett Hide From Goldman Sachs?". CNBC. from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  87. ^ "Buffett sheds tech aversion with big IBM investment". Reuters. November 14, 2011. from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  88. ^ "Warren Buffett invests in Media General newspapers". BBC News. May 17, 2012. from the original on May 20, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  89. ^ Rushe, Dominic (May 17, 2012). "Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buys Media General newspaper group". The Guardian. London. from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  90. ^ Crippen, Alex (July 18, 2013). "Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bets on Atlantic City". CNBC News. from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  91. ^ Buhayar, Noah (September 20, 2013). "Buffett Calls Federal Reserve History's Greatest Hedge Fund". Bloomberg. from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  92. ^ "Warren Buffett's firm just made the most money ever in a single quarter". August 2, 2014. from the original on August 17, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  93. ^ Li, Yun (June 29, 2021). "Warren Buffett says the pandemic has had an 'extremely uneven' impact and is not yet over". CNBC. from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  94. ^ Lou Hoffman, The Hoffman Agency. "Startup lessons learned from Warren Buffett." April 13, 2010. Retrieved, April 16, 2010.
  95. ^ How Inflation Swindles the Equity Investor, Warren Buffett, Fortune, May 1977
  96. ^ "Official Buffett Biography to Hit Shelves". The New York Times. August 12, 2008. from the original on July 19, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2008.
  97. ^ Warren Buffett; Carol Loomis (November 22, 1999). "Mr. Buffett on the Stock Market". Fortune. 140 (10). from the original on November 27, 1999. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  98. ^ a b "Warren Buffett, 'Oracle of Omaha', criticizes Wall Street and praises immigrants". Reuters via the Guardian. February 25, 2017. from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  99. ^ Gelles, David (February 28, 2015). "Warren Buffett Rails Against Investment Bankers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  100. ^ Bary, Andrew. "Alleghany Deal Shows How Much Warren Buffett Dislikes Investment Bankers". www.barrons.com. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  101. ^ Fox, Matthew. "Warren Buffett's disdain for investment banking 'money-shufflers' leads to lower takeover price for Alleghany Corp. shareholders". Markets Insider. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  102. ^ "Berkshire Hathaway price for Alleghany shows Warren Buffett disdain for fees (NYSE:BRK.A) | Seeking Alpha". seekingalpha.com. March 22, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  103. ^ Yates, Chelsea. "The Billionaire and the Ukulele". Hear Nebraska. from the original on November 30, 2015. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  104. ^ Callahan, David. "Who's Who At The Secretive Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation". Inside Philanthropy. from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  105. ^ Bailey, Jeff; Dash, Eric (September 1, 2006). "How Does Warren Buffett Get Married? Frugally, It Turns Out". The New York Times. from the original on April 25, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  106. ^ Brian Goodman (August 31, 2006). "Wedding Bells For Warren Buffett". CBS News. from the original on October 13, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  107. ^ Lowenstein, Roger (2008). Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist. Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-7927-5.
  108. ^ . Bookworm Omaha. Archived from the original on December 23, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2008. Also freely available at [1] September 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine.
  109. ^ The Rich Man's Michael Moore September 1, 2017, at the Wayback Machine The Wall Street Journal, Robert Frank. February 23, 2008
  110. ^ Goodman, Leah McGrath (December 2008). "The Billionaire's Black Sheep". Marie Claire. from the original on May 20, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  111. ^ Nichols, Michelle (February 21, 2008). "Documentary on wealth gap divides Buffett family". Reuters. from the original on May 20, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  112. ^ Schroeder, Alice. (2008). The snowball : Warren Buffett and the business of life. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-80509-3. OCLC 225852426.
  113. ^ Smith, Rich (June 29, 2005). "Stupid CEO Tricks". Motley Fool. from the original on June 13, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  114. ^ 2008 CEO Compensation for Warren E. Buffett, Equilar April 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  115. ^ "Warren Buffett". Forbes. from the original on May 28, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  116. ^ Loudenback, Madeline Stone, Tanza. "For almost 2 years, no one wanted to buy Warren Buffett's Southern California vacation home, but it finally sold for $7.5 million". Business Insider. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  117. ^ "Chairman's Letter 1989". Berkshire Hathaway. from the original on June 8, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  118. ^ Owen, David (September 17, 2007). "Turning Tricks: The rise and fall of contract bridge". The New Yorker. from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  119. ^ Moore, Martha T. (December 19, 2005). "Billionaires bank on bridge to trump poker". USA Today. from the original on May 15, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  120. ^ Blackstone, John (February 17, 2008). "Bringing Back Bridge". CBS News. from the original on May 26, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.[dead link]
  121. ^ Doreen MacMillan (October 5, 2012). "Bridge Scene: United States team secures the 2012 Warren Buffett Cup". Collier Citizen. Scripps Media Inc. from the original on September 11, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  122. ^ "The Varsity Zone Talks Football with Warren Buffett". YouTube. from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  123. ^ Sherman, Mitch (November 7, 2009). "From the sidelines: Can some of these guys suit up?". Omaha World-Herald.
  124. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  125. ^ . Business Wire. July 24, 2009. Archived from the original on October 5, 2015.
  126. ^ "CNBC TRANSCRIPT: Warren Buffett's 'Secret Millionaire's Club' Live Interview on Squawk Box". CNBC. July 24, 2009. from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  127. ^ Wired July 24, 2013, at the Wayback Machine article Faces of the New Atheism: The Scribe published November 2006. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
  128. ^ "How Warren Buffett made his billions". Rediff.com. December 26, 2006. from the original on May 25, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  129. ^ Taylor III, Alex (June 4, 2006). "Buffett backs GM – and buys a Caddy". CNN. from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  130. ^ Kim, Tae (May 5, 2018). "Warren Buffett: I was wrong on Google and Amazon, Jeff Bezos achieved a business 'miracle'". CNBC. from the original on May 6, 2018. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  131. ^ Piers Morgan (October 22, 2013). "Warren Buffett on cell phones, email, and material goods". CNN. from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  132. ^ Bursztynsky, Jessica (February 24, 2020). "Billionaire Apple investor Warren Buffett finally trades in his $20 flip phone for an iPhone 11". CNBC. from the original on February 27, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  133. ^ "Chairman's Letter—1993". Berkshire Hathaway. from the original on June 29, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  134. ^ "How billionaire Warren Buffett became the face of Cherry Coke in China". ABC News. April 5, 2017. from the original on April 5, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  135. ^ France-Presse, Agence (April 5, 2017). "Billionaire Warren Buffett becomes face of Cherry Coke in China". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. from the original on April 5, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  136. ^ "Celebrities who are related to US presidents". Insider.com.
  137. ^ a b "Warren Buffett diagnosed with stage one prostate cancer". BBC News. from the original on January 5, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  138. ^ Sam Ro (September 15, 2012). "Warren Buffett Completes Cancer Treatments". Business Insider. from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  139. ^ "The World's Billionaires". Forbes. March 5, 2008. from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  140. ^ Boyle, Christina (October 1, 2009). "Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Christy Walton top 2009's 'Forbes 400: Richest Americans' list". Daily News. New York. from the original on October 4, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  141. ^ "Warren Buffett signs over $30.7B to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation". USA Today. June 26, 2006. from the original on November 16, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  142. ^ "The Forbes 400: The Richest People In America". Forbes. from the original on October 23, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  143. ^ . Business Wire. November 22, 1999. Archived from the original on December 9, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  144. ^ Cramer, James J. (April 19, 2003). . Time. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  145. ^ Julianna Goldman (February 15, 2011). "Obama Honors Buffett, George H.W. Bush With Medal of Freedom". Bloomberg. from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
  146. ^ . Foreign Policy. November 29, 2010. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  147. ^ "How Inflation Swindles the Equity Investor", Warren E. Buffett, Fortune May 1977 #
  148. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the : An Exclusive Hour with Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates. Charlie Rose. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  149. ^ Loomis, Carol J. (June 25, 2006). "Warren Buffett gives away his fortune". Fortune. from the original on January 3, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  150. ^ "Gates: Buffett gift may help cure worst diseases". NBC News. June 26, 2006. from the original on September 13, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  151. ^ "The birth of philanthrocapitalism". The Economist. February 23, 2006. from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  152. ^ O'Brien, Timothy L.; Saul, Stephanie (June 26, 2006). "Buffett to Give Bulk of His Fortune to Gates Charity". The New York Times. from the original on February 20, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  153. ^ Yuki Noguchi (June 26, 2006). "Gates Foundation to Get Bulk of Buffett's Fortune". The Washington Post. p. A01. from the original on December 9, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  154. ^ Li, Yun (June 23, 2021). "Warren Buffett gives away another $4.1 billion, resigns as trustee at Gates Foundation". CNBC. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  155. ^ Carol J. Loomis (June 25, 2006). "A conversation with Warren Buffett". Fortune. from the original on January 11, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  156. ^ "Most of Susan Buffett Estate to Go to Foundation". The Foundation Center. August 11, 2004. from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  157. ^ "America's Most-Generous Donors, Rank: 1 Warren E. Buffett, Chronicle of Philanthropy". Philanthropy.com. February 22, 2007. from the original on February 13, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  158. ^ Chapnick, Nate. . Forbes. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  159. ^ "girls-inc". eBay. from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  160. ^ Lindsay Goldwert (July 1, 2007). "Lunch With Warren Buffett? $650,100, Charity Auction Winner Bids Big Money For Steak Lunch With Billionaire Buffett". CBS News. from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  161. ^ Zuill, Lilla (June 28, 2008). "uk.reuters.com, Warren Buffett lunch sells for record $2.11 mln". Reuters. from the original on January 12, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  162. ^ "cnbc.com, Warren Buffett Charity Lunch Auction Ends with High Bid of $2,110,100". CNBC. June 27, 2008. from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  163. ^ Funk, Josh (June 6, 2010). . Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 8, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
  164. ^ "Cost to lunch with Warren Buffett: $3.5 million". Yahoo! News. June 9, 2012. from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  165. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the : "Ralph Nader: Books, Quotes, Education, History, Accomplishments, Legacy – YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  166. ^ Moss, Rosabeth (December 14, 2010). . Business Week. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  167. ^ "Buffett donates $3.4 billion to Gates' and family charities". Msn.com. from the original on July 17, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  168. ^ "The World's Billionaires 2018". Forbes.com. from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  169. ^ "Warren Buffett donates $2.8 billion ... again". Fortune.com. from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  170. ^ Candid. "Buffett Boosts Commitment to Children's Family Foundations". Philanthropy News Digest (PND). from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  171. ^ "Doris Buffett's Learning by Giving Foundation: 'It All Started at Davidson'". Davidson.edu. Retrieved April 21, 2019.[permanent dead link]
  172. ^ "How Warren Buffett's fortune is going directly to those in need". PBS NewsHour. February 2, 2017. from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  173. ^ "Buffett gives more than $750M in Berkshire shares to charities". www.foxbusiness.com. November 24, 2022.
  174. ^ Michael Luo and Christopher Drew (July 3, 2008). "Obama Picks Up Fund-Raising Pace". The Washington Post. from the original on May 1, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2008.
  175. ^ ""Squawk Box" Transcript: Becky Quick Sits Down with Billionaire Investor Warren Buffett". CNBC. May 5, 2008. from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved September 12, 2008.
  176. ^ "Transcript of second McCain, Obama debate". CNN. October 10, 2008. from the original on October 9, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
  177. ^ . Reuters. November 7, 2008. Archived from the original on July 24, 2013.
  178. ^ USA Today: Schwarzenegger taps Buffett as finance advisor September 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine August 14, 2003
  179. ^ Warren Buffett Endorses Hillary Clinton and Calls for Higher Taxes on Wealthy May 17, 2017, at the Wayback Machine December 16, 2015
  180. ^ Haskell, John; Hansler, Jennifer (August 1, 2016). "Warren Buffett Challenges Trump to Show Tax Returns, Says He's 'Afraid'". ABC News. from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  181. ^ "Donald Trump says general election may be 'rigged'". Los Angeles Times. August 1, 2016. from the original on August 2, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  182. ^ "Transcript of the Second Debate". The New York Times. October 10, 2016. ISSN 0362-4331. from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  183. ^ a b c . Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  184. ^ "Warren Buffett: Will judge Trump by results but 'unlikely' he'll vote for him in 4 years". USA TODAY. from the original on April 9, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  185. ^ Belvedere, Matthew J. (August 30, 2017). "Warren Buffett: Here's why I haven't been criticizing Donald Trump". Cnbc.com. from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  186. ^ a b McCarthy, Ryan (March 3, 2010). "Warren Buffett On CNBC: Health Care Is Like An 'Economic Tape Worm' (WATCH)". HuffPost. AP and CNBC. from the original on October 22, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2011. 6 minutes in.
  187. ^ McCarthy, Ryan (March 3, 2010). "Warren Buffett On CNBC: Health Care Is Like An 'Economic Tape Worm' (WATCH)". HuffPost. AP and CNBC. from the original on October 22, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2011. 7 minutes in.
  188. ^ McCarthy, Ryan (March 3, 2010). "Warren Buffett On CNBC: Health Care Is Like An 'Economic Tape Worm' (WATCH)". HuffPost. AP and CNBC. from the original on October 22, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2011. 4 minutes in.
  189. ^ a b McCarthy, Ryan (March 3, 2010). "Warren Buffett On CNBC: Health Care Is Like An 'Economic Tape Worm' (WATCH)". HuffPost. AP and CNBC. from the original on October 22, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2011. 9 to 10 minutes in.
  190. ^ Atul Gawande (June 1, 2009). "The Cost Conundrum – What a Texas town can teach us about health care". The New Yorker. from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  191. ^ McCarthy, Ryan (March 3, 2010). "Warren Buffett On CNBC: Health Care Is Like An 'Economic Tape Worm' (WATCH)". HuffPost. AP and CNBC. from the original on October 22, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2011. 11 minutes in.
  192. ^ Angeles, John Harlow. "Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation". from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  193. ^ Frank, Robert (May 26, 2009). "Billionaires Try to Shrink World's Population, Report Says". The Wall Street Journal. from the original on August 17, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  194. ^ Martin, Nina (July 14, 2016). "How One Abortion Research Megadonor Forced the Supreme Court's Hand". from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  195. ^ "Warren Buffett". Forbes: 24, 42–3. November 26, 2007.
  196. ^ Stein, Ben (November 26, 2006). "In Class Warfare, Guess Which Class Is Winning". The New York Times. Retrieved October 28, 2020. It turned out that Mr. Buffett, with immense income from dividends and capital gains, paid far, far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the clerks or anyone else in his office. Further, in conversation it came up that Mr. Buffett doesn't use any tax planning at all. He just pays as the Internal Revenue Code requires. "How can this be fair?" he asked of how little he pays relative to his employees. "How can this be right?" Even though I agreed with him, I warned that whenever someone tried to raise the issue, he or she was accused of fomenting class warfare. "There's class warfare, all right," Mr. Buffett said, "but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."
  197. ^ Zweifel, Dave (October 6, 2010). "Plain Talk: There's class war, and rich are winning". The Cap Times. Capital Newspapers Inc. Retrieved October 28, 2020. There are some studies that have estimated that the tax breaks and services that benefit the wealthy add up to $400 billion a year, compared to the $116 billion spent on programs for the poor. Class warfare? One of the richest Americans, Warren Buffett, replies to that notion: "There's class warfare, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."
  198. ^ Pramuk, Jacob (October 10, 2016). "Warren Buffett fires back at Donald Trump's comments about his taxes". CNBC. Retrieved October 28, 2020. In Sunday night's presidential debate in St. Louis, Trump claimed that Buffett took a "massive deduction" while defending his claimed $916 million loss in 1995 that allowed him to avoid federal income tax in at least some years. Buffett, a supporter of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, said Monday that Trump "has not seen my income tax returns." "I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.) I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward," Buffett said in a statement.
  199. ^ "Rich Americans back inheritance tax". BBC News. BBC. February 14, 2001. Retrieved October 28, 2020. A group of the United States' most wealthy citizens have urged Congress to reject a plan by the new Bush administration to phase out taxes on estates and gifts by 2009. ~. Mr Buffett, who himself did not sign the petition because he thought it did not go far enough, said that repealing the estate tax would be a "terrible mistake". It was like "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics". Removing the tax would lead to the creation of an "aristocracy of wealth" instead of a meritocracy, he added.
  200. ^ Jim Snyder (November 15, 2007). The Hill. Archived from the original on November 20, 2007.
  201. ^ Berlau, John (August 23, 2004). "Buffetted. The Sage of Omaha loves the estate tax – as well he might". National Review. Retrieved April 3, 2016. Yet the parallel question is never asked: Would these tycoons benefit from the more interventionist government policies advocated by Kerry and the Democrats? A look at Buffett's holdings shows that in at least one case, that of the estate tax, the answer is a strong yes.
  202. ^ Ackman, Dan (October 11, 2004). . Forbes. Archived from the original on April 13, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  203. ^ Buffett, Warren (May 1977). "How Inflation Swindles the Equity Investor". Fortune.
  204. ^ "Shareholder Proposal Regarding Berkshire's Investment In PetroChina" (PDF). Berkshire Hathaway. (PDF) from the original on May 28, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  205. ^ . ChinaStakes. Archived from the original on September 6, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
  206. ^ "Shares in a Buffett-Backed Chinese Car Company Are Getting Crushed". May 3, 2018. from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  207. ^ Burrough, Bryan; Helyar, John (1990). Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-016172-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  208. ^ Jenell Wallace (April 25, 1994). "Warren Buffett Cools on His Attraction to Tobacco Business". Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California San Diego Library. Bloomberg. from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
  209. ^ (PDF). Public Service Commission of Utah. July 28, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 9, 2013.
  210. ^ Josh Funk (May 3, 2008). "Buffett again rebuffs advocates who want Klamath dams out". USA Today. from the original on October 18, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  211. ^ Tucker, S. Craig (May 1, 2009). "Klamath Dam Removal Advocates Call on Buffett's Company To Close the Deal, Remove Klamath Dams". California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. Karuk Tribe.
  212. ^ "Warren Buffett, Fuzzy Math And Stock Options ". The Washington Post. July 6, 2004. p. A19. from the original on September 6, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  213. ^ Buffett, Warren E. (July 24, 2002). . The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 21, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  214. ^ "Buffett on Facebook and Google: hard to estimate future value". Chicago Sun-Times. Associated Press. May 7, 2012. from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  215. ^ "Buffett on cryptocurrencies: 'I can say almost with certainty that they will come to a bad ending'". CNBC. January 10, 2018. from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  216. ^ "Warren Buffett would like to clarify something about his 'Entourage' cameo". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  217. ^ a b c d e f Del Jones, "Book titles like to play the Warren Buffett name game," October 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine USA Today, October 22, 2008.
  218. ^ Buffett, Warren; Cunningham, Lawrence (2008). The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition. The Cunningham Group. ISBN 978-0-9664461-2-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  219. ^ Pysh, Preston (September 15, 2011). Warren Buffett's Three Favorite Books: A guide to the Intelligent Investor, Security Analysis, and the Wealth of Nations. Pylon Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-98296-762-1.
  220. ^ Hagstrom, Robert G.; Miller, Bill R.; Fisher, Ken (2005). The Warren Buffett Way. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley. ISBN 0-471-74367-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  221. ^ Schroeder, Alice (2008). The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. Bantam Dell Pub Group 2008. ISBN 978-0-553-80509-3.
  222. ^ Janet Maslin, "Books of The Times: The Richest Man and How He Grew (and Grew His Company, Too)," February 19, 2017, at the Wayback Machine The New York Times, September 28, 2008.
  223. ^ Buffett, Mary; Clark, David (June 8, 1999). Buffettology: The Previously Unexplained Techniques That Have Made Warren Buffett The World's Most Famous Investor. Scribner. ISBN 978-0-684-84821-1.
  224. ^ Lowe, Janet (August 31, 2007). Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-15262-1.
  225. ^ Train, John (1987). The midas touch: the strategies that have made Warren Buffett America's pre-eminent investor. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-015643-5.
  226. ^ Kilpatrick, Andrew (2008). Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett/2008 Cosmic Edition/2 volumes. Andy Kilpatrick Publishing Empire (AKPE). ISBN 978-1-57864-455-1.
  227. ^ Reese, John P.; Jack Forehand (2009). The Guru Investor: How to Beat the Market Using History's Best Investment Strategies. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-37709-3.

Further reading

  • Schwartz, Mattathias (January 2010). "The Church of Warren Buffett". Harper's. 320 (1916): 27–35. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  • Rojas, Claudio R. (2014). "An Indeterminate Theory of Canadian Corporate Law". University of British Columbia Law Review. 47 (1): 59–128 ("The author's perspective on Berkshire Hathaway's investment philosophy was informed by discussions with Warren Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska": pp. 59, 122–124). SSRN 2391775.

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Warren Buffett.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Warren Buffett.
  • Berkshire Hathaway official website
  • Buffett Partnership Letters
  • Forbes Profile
  • "Warren Buffett's Letters to Shareholders". Berkshire Hathaway.
  • Berkshire Hathaway SEC 13F Filings
  • Appearances on C-SPAN  
  • Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose
  • Warren Buffett collected news and commentary at The New York Times
  • Warren Buffett collected news and commentary at The Guardian  
  • Stempel, Jonathan (February 12, 2008). "FACTBOX: Warren Buffett at a glance". Reuters.
Honorary titles
Preceded by World's richest person
?–1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by World's richest person
2008–2009

May 01, 2023
warren, buffett, warren, edward, buffett, born, august, 1930, american, business, magnate, investor, philanthropist, currently, chairman, berkshire, hathaway, best, known, fundamental, investors, world, result, immense, investment, success, possessing, worth, . Warren Edward Buffett ˈ b ʌ f ɪ t BUF it born August 30 1930 2 is an American business magnate investor and philanthropist He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway He is one of the best known fundamental investors in the world as a result of his immense investment success 3 4 possessing a net worth of 104 billion as of March 2023 5 making him the fifth richest person in the world 5 Warren BuffettBuffett in 2015BornWarren Edward Buffett 1930 08 30 August 30 1930 age 92 Omaha Nebraska U S EducationUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Nebraska Lincoln BS Columbia University MS OccupationsBusinessmaninvestorphilanthropistYears active1951 presentKnown forLeadership of Berkshire Hathaway along with Charlie MungerPolitical partyDemocratic 1 Spouse s Susan Thompson m 1952 died 2004 wbr Astrid Menks m 2006 wbr ChildrenSusan Alice BuffettHoward Graham BuffettPeter BuffettParent s Howard Buffett Leila StahlRelativesHoward Warren Buffett grandson Doris Buffett sister Websitewww wbr berkshirehathaway wbr comSignatureBuffett was born in Omaha Nebraska He developed an interest in business and investing during his youth eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring to and graduating from the University of Nebraska at 19 He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing pioneered by Benjamin Graham He attended New York Institute of Finance to focus on his economics background and soon after began various investment business partnerships including one with Graham He created Buffett Partnership Ltd in 1956 and his investment firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway assuming its name to create a diversified holding company and later as the company s chairman and majority shareholder in 1970 In 1978 Charlie Munger joined Buffett as vice chairman 6 7 Since 1970 Buffett has presided as the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway one of America s largest holding companies and world s leading corporate conglomerates 8 He 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 9 10 He is noted for his adherence to the principles of value investing and his personal frugality despite his vast wealth 11 Buffett is also a noted philanthropist having pledged to give away 99 percent 12 of his fortune to philanthropic causes primarily via the Bill amp Melinda Gates Foundation He founded The Giving Pledge in 2010 with Bill Gates whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes 13 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Business career 2 1 Early business career 2 2 Assuming Berkshire 2 3 As a billionaire 2 4 2007 08 financial crisis 2 5 A capitalized Berkshire 3 COVID 19 pandemic 4 Investment philosophy 4 1 Index funds vis a vis active management 4 2 Using investment banks 5 Personal life 5 1 Health 6 Wealth and philanthropy 7 Political and public policy views 7 1 Health care 7 2 Curbing population growth 7 3 Taxes 7 4 Dollar and gold 7 5 China 7 6 Tobacco 7 7 Coal 7 8 Renewable energy 7 9 Expensing of stock options 7 10 Technology 7 11 Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies 8 Film and television 9 Bibliography 9 1 Books about Buffett 10 See also 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External linksEarly life and educationBuffett was born in 1930 in Omaha Nebraska the second of three children and the only son of Leila nee Stahl and Congressman Howard Buffett 14 He began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School 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 D C Warren 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 15 After finishing high school and finding success with his side entrepreneurial and investment ventures Buffett wanted to skip college to go directly into business but was overruled by his father 16 17 Buffett displayed an interest in business and investing at a young age He was inspired by a book he borrowed from the Omaha public library at age seven One Thousand Ways to Make 1000 18 Much of Buffett s early childhood years were enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures In one of his first business ventures Buffett sold chewing gum Coca Cola and weekly magazines door to door He worked in his grandfather s grocery store While still in high school he made money delivering newspapers selling golf balls and stamps and detailing cars among other means On his first income tax return in 1944 Buffett took a 35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route 19 In 1945 as a high school sophomore Buffett and a friend spent 25 to purchase a used pinball machine which they placed in the local barber shop Within months they owned several machines in three different barber shops across Omaha They later sold the business to a war veteran for a tidy sum of 1200 20 Investor Benjamin Graham influenced young Buffett Buffett s interest in the stock market and investing dated to schoolboy days he spent in the customers lounge of a regional stock brokerage near his father s own brokerage office His father took interest in educating the young Warren at one point taking him to visit the New York Stock Exchange when he was 10 21 At 11 he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself and three for his sister Doris Buffett who also became a philanthropist 22 23 24 At 15 Warren made more than 175 monthly delivering Washington Post newspapers In high school he invested in a business owned by his father and bought a 40 acre farm worked by a tenant farmer 25 He bought the land when he was 14 years old with 1 200 of his savings 25 By the time he finished college Buffett had amassed 9 800 in savings about 112 000 today 20 26 In 1947 Buffett matriculated at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania He would have preferred to focus on his business ventures but enrolled due to pressure from his father 20 Warren studied there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity 27 He then transferred to the University of Nebraska where at 19 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration After being rejected by Harvard Business School Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School of Columbia University upon learning that Benjamin Graham taught there He earned a Master of Science in economics from Columbia in 1951 After graduating Buffett attended the New York Institute of Finance 28 The basic ideas of investing are to look at stocks as business use the market s fluctuations to your advantage and seek a margin of safety That s what Ben Graham taught us A hundred years from now they will still be the cornerstones of investing 29 30 31 Warren BuffettBusiness careerFurther information on Warren Buffett s time at Berkshire Hathaway List of assets owned by Berkshire Hathaway Early business career Buffett worked from 1951 to 1954 at Buffett Falk amp Co as an investment salesman from 1954 to 1956 at Graham Newman Corp as a securities analyst from 1956 to 1969 at Buffett Partnership Ltd as a general partner and from 1970 as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc In 1951 32 Buffett discovered that Graham was on the board of GEICO insurance Taking a train to Washington D C on a Saturday he knocked on the door of GEICO s headquarters until a janitor admitted him There he met Lorimer Davidson GEICO s vice president and the two discussed the insurance business for hours Davidson would eventually become Buffett s lifelong friend and a lasting influence 33 and would later recall that he found Buffett to be an extraordinary man after only fifteen minutes Buffett wanted to work on Wall Street but both his father and Ben Graham urged him not to He offered to work for Graham for free but Graham refused 34 Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker while taking a Dale Carnegie public speaking course 35 Using what he learned he felt confident enough to teach an Investment Principles night class at the University of Nebraska Omaha The average age of his students was more than twice his own During this time he also purchased a Sinclair gas station as a side investment but it was unsuccessful 36 In 1952 37 Buffett married Susan Thompson at Dundee Presbyterian Church The next year they had their first child Susan Alice In 1954 Buffett accepted a job at Benjamin Graham s partnership His starting salary was 12 000 a year about 121 000 today 26 There he worked closely with Walter Schloss Graham was a tough boss He was adamant that stocks provide a wide margin of safety after weighing the trade off between their price and their intrinsic value That same year the Buffetts had their second child Howard Graham In 1956 Benjamin Graham retired and closed his partnership At this time Buffett s personal savings were over 174 000 about 1 73 million today 26 and concurrently founded Buffett Partnership Ltd Buffett s home in Omaha Nebraska In 1957 Buffett operated three investment partnerships He purchased a five bedroom stucco house in Omaha where he still lives for 31 500 38 39 In 1958 the Buffetts third child Peter Andrew was born Buffett operated five partnerships that year In 1959 the company grew to six partnerships and Buffett met future partner Charlie Munger By 1960 Buffett operated seven investment partnerships He asked one of his partners a doctor to find ten other doctors willing to invest 10 000 each in his partnership Eventually eleven agreed and Buffett pooled their money with a mere 100 original investment of his own In 1961 Buffett revealed that 35 of the partnership s assets were invested in the Sanborn Map Company He explained that Sanborn stock sold for only 45 per share in 1958 but the company s investment portfolio was worth 65 per share This meant that Sanborn s map business was being valued at minus 20 Buffett eventually purchased 23 of the company s outstanding shares as an activist investor obtaining a seat for himself on the board of directors and allied with other dissatisfied shareholders to control 44 of the shares To avoid a proxy fight the board offered to repurchase shares at fair value paying with a portion of its investment portfolio 77 of the outstanding shares were turned in 40 41 Buffett had reaped a 50 percent return on investment in just two years 42 Assuming Berkshire In 1962 Buffett became a millionaire because of his partnerships which in January 1962 had an excess of 7 178 500 of which over 1 025 000 belonged to Buffett He merged these partnerships into one Buffett invested in and eventually took control of a textile manufacturing company Berkshire Hathaway He began buying shares in Berkshire from Seabury Stanton the owner whom he later fired Buffett s partnerships began purchasing shares at 7 60 per share In 1965 when Buffett s partnerships began purchasing Berkshire aggressively they paid 14 86 per share while the company had working capital of 19 per share This did not include the value of fixed assets factory and equipment Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at a board meeting and named a new president Ken Chace to run the company In 1966 Buffett closed the partnership to new money He later claimed that the textile business had been his worst trade 43 He 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 In a second letter Buffett announced his first investment in a private business Hochschild Kohn and Co a privately owned Baltimore department store In 1967 Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents 44 In 1969 Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners including shares of Berkshire Hathaway In 1970 Buffett began writing his now famous annual letters to shareholders He lived solely on his salary of 50 000 per year and his outside investment income In 1973 Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper and joined its board In 1974 the SEC opened a formal investigation into Buffett and Berkshire s acquisition of Wesco Financial due to possible conflict of interest No charges were brought In 1977 Berkshire indirectly purchased the Buffalo Evening News for 32 5 million Antitrust charges started instigated by its rival the Buffalo Courier Express Both papers lost money until the Courier Express folded in 1982 In 1979 Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC Capital Cities announced a 3 5 billion purchase of ABC on March 18 1985 surprising the media industry as ABC was four times bigger than Capital Cities at the time Buffett helped finance the deal in return for a 25 stake in the combined company 45 The newly merged company known as Capital Cities ABC or CapCities ABC was forced to sell some stations due to Federal Communications Commission ownership rules The two companies also owned several radio stations in the same markets 46 In 1987 Berkshire Hathaway purchased a 12 stake in Salomon Inc making it the largest shareholder and Buffett a director In 1990 a scandal involving John Gutfreund former CEO of Salomon Brothers surfaced A rogue trader Paul Mozer was submitting bids in excess of what was allowed by Treasury rules When this was brought to Gutfreund s attention he did not immediately suspend the rogue trader Gutfreund left the company in August 1991 47 Buffett became chairman of Salomon until the crisis passed 48 In 1988 Buffett began buying The Coca Cola Company stock eventually purchasing up to 7 of the company for 1 02 billion 49 It would turn out to be one of Berkshire s most lucrative investments and one which it still holds 50 As a billionaire Buffett became a billionaire when Berkshire Hathaway began selling class A shares on May 29 1990 with the market closing at 7 175 a share 51 In 1998 he acquired General Re Gen Re as a subsidiary in a deal that presented difficulties according to the Rational Walk investment website underwriting standards proved to be inadequate while a problematic derivatives book was resolved after numerous years and a significant loss 52 Gen Re later provided reinsurance after Buffett became involved with Maurice R Greenberg at AIG in 2002 53 Buffett meets with President Barack Obama at the White House in July 2011 During a 2005 investigation of an accounting fraud case involving AIG Gen Re executives became implicated On March 15 2005 the AIG board forced Greenberg to resign from his post as chairman and CEO after New York state regulators claimed that AIG had engaged in questionable transactions and improper accounting 54 On February 9 2006 AIG agreed to pay a 1 6 billion fine 55 In 2010 the U S government agreed to a 92 million settlement with Gen Re allowing the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary to avoid prosecution in the AIG case Gen Re also made a commitment to implement corporate governance concessions which required Berkshire Hathaway s chief financial officer to attend General Re s audit committee meetings and mandated the appointment of an independent director 52 In 2002 Buffett entered in 11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver U S dollars against other currencies By April 2006 his total gain on these contracts was over 2 billion Buffett announced in June 2006 that he would gradually give away 85 of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock starting in July 2006 the largest contribution going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 56 In 2007 in a letter to shareholders Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor or perhaps successors to run his investment business 57 2007 08 financial crisis 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 58 Buy American I am he wrote for an opinion piece published in the New York Times in 2008 59 Buffett called the downturn in the financial sector that started in 2007 poetic justice 60 Buffett s Berkshire Hathaway suffered a 77 drop in earnings during Q3 2008 and several of his later deals suffered large mark to market losses 61 Berkshire Hathaway acquired 10 perpetual preferred stock of Goldman Sachs 62 Some of Buffett s put options European exercise at expiry only that he wrote sold were running at around 6 73 billion mark to market losses as of late 2008 63 The scale of the potential loss prompted the SEC to demand that Berkshire produce a more robust disclosure of factors used to value the contracts 63 Buffett also helped Dow Chemical pay for its 18 8 billion takeover of Rohm amp Haas He thus became the single largest shareholder in the enlarged group with his Berkshire Hathaway which provided 3 billion underlining his instrumental role during the crisis in debt and equity markets 64 In 2008 Buffett became the richest person in the world with a total net worth estimated at 62 billion 65 by Forbes and at 58 billion 66 by Yahoo overtaking Bill Gates who had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years 67 In 2009 Gates regained the top position on the Forbes list with Buffett shifted to second place Both of the men s values dropped to 40 billion and 37 billion respectively according to Forbes Buffett lost 25 billion over a 12 month period during 2008 2009 68 In October 2008 the media reported that Buffett had agreed to buy General Electric GE preferred stock 69 The operation included special incentives he received an option to buy three billion shares of GE stock at 22 25 over the five years following the agreement and Buffett also received a 10 dividend callable within three years In February 2009 Buffett sold some Procter amp Gamble Co and Johnson amp Johnson shares from his personal portfolio 70 In addition to suggestions of mistiming the wisdom in keeping some of Berkshire s major holdings including The Coca Cola Company which in 1998 peaked at 86 raised questions Buffett discussed the difficulties of knowing when to sell in the company s 2004 annual report That may seem easy to do when one looks through an always clean rear view mirror Unfortunately however it s the windshield through which investors must peer and that glass is invariably fogged 71 In March 2009 Buffett said in a cable television interview that the economy had fallen off a cliff Not only has the economy slowed down a lot but people have really changed their habits like I haven t seen Additionally Buffett feared that inflation levels that occurred in the 1970s which led to years of painful stagflation might re emerge 72 73 A capitalized Berkshire On August 14 2014 the price of Berkshire Hathaway s shares hit 200 000 a share for the first time capitalizing the company at 328 billion While Buffett had given away much of his stock to charities by this time he still held 321 000 shares worth 64 2 billion On August 20 2014 Berkshire Hathaway was fined 896 000 for failing to report December 9 2013 purchase of shares in USG Corporation as required 74 In 2009 Buffett invested 2 6 billion as a part of Swiss Re s campaign to raise equity capital 75 76 Berkshire Hathaway already owned a 3 stake with rights to own more than 20 77 Also in 2009 Buffett acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp for 34 billion in cash and stock Alice Schroeder author of Snowball said that a key reason for the purchase was to diversify Berkshire Hathaway from the financial industry 78 Measured by market capitalization in the Financial Times Global 500 Berkshire Hathaway was the eighteenth largest corporation in the world as of June 2009 79 In 2009 Buffett divested his failed investment in ConocoPhillips saying to his Berkshire investors I bought a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year I still believe the odds are good that oil sells far higher in the future than the current 40 50 price But so far I have been dead wrong Even if prices should rise moreover the terrible timing of my purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars 80 The merger with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway BNSF closed upon BNSF shareholder approval during Q1 of 2010 This deal was valued at approximately 44 billion with 10 billion of outstanding BNSF debt and represented an increase of the previously existing stake of 22 81 82 In June 2010 Buffett defended the credit rating agencies for their role in the US financial crisis claiming Very very few people could appreciate the bubble That s the nature of bubbles they re mass delusions 83 On March 18 2011 Goldman Sachs was given Federal Reserve approval to buy back Berkshire s preferred stock in Goldman Buffett had been reluctant to give up the stock which averaged 1 4 million in dividends per day 84 85 saying I m going to be the Osama bin Laden of capitalism I m on my way to an unknown destination in Asia where I m going to look for a cave If the U S Armed forces can t find Osama bin Laden in 10 years let Goldman Sachs try to find me 86 In November 2011 it was announced that over the course of the previous eight months Buffett had bought 64 million shares of International Business Machine Corp IBM stock worth around 11 billion This unanticipated investment raised his stake in the company to around 5 5 percent the largest stake in IBM alongside that of State Street Global Advisors 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 During the interview in which he revealed the investment to the public Buffett stated that he was impressed by the company s ability to retain corporate clients and said I don t know of any large company that really has been as specific on what they intend to do and how they intend to do it as IBM 87 In May 2012 Buffett s acquisition of Media General consisting of 63 newspapers in the south eastern U S was announced 88 The company was the second news print purchase made by Buffett in one year 89 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 U S 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 The Press of Atlantic City became Berkshire s 30th daily newspaper following other purchases such as Virginia U S Roanoke Times and The Tulsa World in Oklahoma U S 90 During a presentation to Georgetown University students in Washington D C in late September 2013 Buffett compared the U S Federal Reserve to a hedge fund and stated that the bank is generating 80 billion or 90 billion a year probably in revenue for the U S government Buffett also advocated further on the issue of wealth equality in society We have learned to turn out lots of goods and services but we haven t learned as well how to have everybody share in the bounty The obligation of a society as prosperous as ours is to figure out how nobody gets left too far behind 91 After the difficulties of the economic crisis Buffett managed to bring its company back to its pre recession standards in Q2 2014 Berkshire Hathaway made 6 4 billion in net profit the most it had ever made in a three month period 92 COVID 19 pandemicIn a June 2021 interview with CNBC Buffet said that the economic impact of the COVID 19 pandemic has increased economic inequality and bemoaned that most people are unaware that hundreds of thousands or millions of small businesses have been negatively impacted He also 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 He said the unpredictability and the effects of COVID 19 are far from over 93 Investment philosophyWarren Buffett s writings include his annual reports and various articles Buffett is recognized by communicators 94 as a great story teller as evidenced by his annual letters to shareholders He has warned about the pernicious effects of inflation 95 The arithmetic makes it plain that inflation is a far more devastating tax than anything that has been enacted by our legislatures The inflation tax has a fantastic ability to simply consume capital It makes no difference to a widow with her savings in a 5 percent passbook account whether she pays 100 percent income tax on her interest income during a period of zero inflation or pays no income taxes during years of 5 percent inflation Buffett Fortune 1977 In his article The Superinvestors of Graham and Doddsville Buffett rebutted the academic efficient market hypothesis that beating the S amp P 500 was pure chance by highlighting the results achieved by a number of students of the Graham and Dodd value investing school of thought In addition to himself Buffett named Walter J Schloss Tom Knapp Ed Anderson Tweedy Browne LLC William J Ruane Sequoia Fund Charlie Munger Buffett s partner at Berkshire Rick Guerin Pacific Partners Ltd and Stan Perlmeter Perlmeter Investments 96 In his November 1999 Fortune article he warned of investors unrealistic expectations 97 Let me summarize what I ve been saying about the stock market I think it s very hard to come up with a persuasive case that equities will over the next 17 years perform anything like anything like they ve performed in the past 17 If I had to pick the most probable return from appreciation and dividends combined that investors in aggregate repeat aggregate would earn in a world of constant interest rates 2 inflation and those ever hurtful frictional costs it would be 6 Buffett Fortune 1999 Index funds vis a vis active management Buffett has been a supporter of index funds for people who are either not interested in managing their own money or don t have the time 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 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 98 In 2007 Buffett made a bet with numerous managers that a simple S amp P 500 index fund will outperform hedge funds that charge exorbitant fees By 2017 the index fund was outperforming every hedge fund that made the bet against Buffett 98 Using investment banks Buffet has a long standing aversion to using the services of investment banks via Berkshire Hathaway 99 This dynamic was also reported in Barron s 100 Insider 101 and Seeking Alpha 102 among others Personal life Buffett with Gary Green in 2010 In 1949 Buffett developed a crush on a young woman whose boyfriend had a ukulele In an attempt to compete he bought one of the instruments and has been playing it ever since Though the attempt to capture her attention was unsuccessful his music interest became a key part of his becoming a part of Susan Thompson s life and led to their marriage Buffett often plays the instrument at stockholder meetings and other opportunities His love of the instrument led to the commissioning of two custom Dairy Queen ukuleles by Dave Talsma one of which was auctioned for charity 103 Buffett married Susan Buffett born Thompson in 1952 They had three children Susie Howard and Peter The couple began living separately in 1977 although they remained married until Susan Buffett s death in July 2004 Their daughter Susie lives in Omaha is a national board member of Girls Inc and does charitable work through the Susan A Buffett Foundation 104 In 2006 on his 76th birthday Buffett married his longtime companion Astrid Menks who was then 60 years old she had lived with him since his wife s departure to San Francisco in 1977 105 106 Susan had arranged for the two to meet before she left Omaha to pursue her singing career All three were close and Christmas cards to friends were signed Warren Susie and Astrid 107 Susan briefly discussed this relationship in an interview on the Charlie Rose Show shortly before her death in a rare glimpse into Buffett s personal life 108 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 Although his first wife referred to Nicole as one of her adored grandchildren 109 Buffett wrote Nicole a letter stating I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin 110 111 112 His 2006 annual salary was about 100 000 which is small compared to senior executive remuneration in comparable companies 113 In 2008 he earned a total compensation of 175 000 which included a base salary of just 100 000 114 He continued to live in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for 31 500 a fraction of today s value He also owned a vacation home in Laguna Beach California 115 which he purchased for 150 000 in 1971 He sold it for 7 5 million in 2018 116 In 1989 after spending nearly 6 7 million of Berkshire s funds on a private jet Buffett named it The Indefensible This act was a break from his past condemnation of extravagant purchases by other CEOs and his history of using more public transportation 117 Bridge is such a sensational game that I wouldn t mind being in jail if I had three cellmates who were decent players and who were willing to keep the game going twenty four hours a day Buffett on bridge 118 Buffett is an avid bridge player which he plays with fellow fan Gates 119 he is said to spend 12 hours a week playing the game 120 In 2006 he sponsored a bridge match for the Buffett Cup Modeled on the Ryder Cup in golf held immediately before it in the same city the teams are chosen by invitation with a female team and five male teams provided by each country 121 He is a dedicated lifelong follower of Nebraska football and attends as many games as his schedule permits He supported the hire of Bo Pelini following the 2007 season stating It was getting kind of desperate around here 122 He watched the 2009 game against Oklahoma from the Nebraska sideline after being named an honorary assistant coach 123 Buffett was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2009 124 Buffett worked with Christopher Webber on an animated series called Secret Millionaires Club with chief Andy Heyward of DiC Entertainment The series features Buffett and Munger and teaches children healthy financial habits 125 126 Buffett was raised as a Presbyterian but has since described himself as agnostic 127 In December 2006 it was reported that Buffett did not carry a mobile phone did not have a computer at his desk and drove his own automobile 128 a Cadillac DTS 129 In contrast to that at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway s shareholder meeting he stated he uses Google as his preferred search engine 130 In 2013 he had an old Nokia flip phone and had sent one email in his entire life 131 In February 2020 Buffett revealed in a CNBC interview that he had traded in his flip phone for an iPhone 11 132 Buffett reads five newspapers every day beginning with the Omaha World Herald which his company acquired in 2011 Buffett s speeches are known for mixing business discussions with humor Each year 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 Berkshire s annual reports and letters to shareholders prepared by Buffett frequently receive coverage by the financial media Buffett s writings are known for containing quotations from sources as varied as the Bible and Mae West 133 as well as advice in a folksy Midwestern style and numerous jokes In April 2017 Buffett an avid Coca Cola drinker and shareholder in the company agreed to have his likeness placed on Cherry Coke products in China Buffett was not compensated for this advertisement 134 135 Buffett is very distantly related to the 44th president of the United States Barack Obama 136 Health On April 11 2012 Buffett was diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer during a routine test 137 He announced he would begin two months of daily radiation treatment from mid July In a letter to shareholders Buffett said he felt great as if I were in my normal excellent health and my energy level is 100 percent 137 On September 15 2012 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 138 Wealth and philanthropy Buffett Kathy Ireland and Bill Gates at the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meetingIn 2008 Buffett was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately 62 billion 139 In 2009 after donating billions of dollars to charity he was ranked as the second richest man in the United States with a net worth of 37 billion 140 141 with only Bill Gates ranked higher than Buffett His net worth had risen to 58 5 billion as of September 2013 142 In 1999 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 143 In 2007 he was listed among Time s 100 Most Influential People in the world 144 In 2011 President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom 145 Buffett along with Bill Gates was named the most influential global thinker in Foreign Policy s 2010 report 146 Buffett has written several times of his belief that in a market economy the rich earn outsized rewards for their talents 147 His children will not inherit a significant proportion of his wealth He 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 148 Buffett had long stated his intention to give away his fortune to charity and in June 2006 he announced a new plan to give 83 of it to the Bill amp Melinda Gates Foundation BMGF 149 He pledged about the equivalent of 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares to the Bill amp Melinda Gates Foundation worth approximately 30 7 billion as of June 23 2006 150 making it the largest charitable donation in history and Buffett one of the leaders of philanthrocapitalism 151 The foundation will receive 5 of the total each July beginning in 2006 The pledge is conditional upon three requirements Bill or Melinda Gates must be alive and active in BMGF BMGF must continue to qualify as a charity Each year BMGF must give away an amount equal to the prior year s Berkshire gift plus the additional 5 of net assets as required of all US foundationsBuffett joined the Gates Foundation s board but did not plan to be actively involved in the foundation s investments 152 153 Buffett announced his resignation as a trustee of the Gates Foundation on June 23 2021 154 This represented a significant shift from Buffett s previous statements to the effect that most of his fortune would pass to his Buffett Foundation 155 The bulk of the estate of his wife valued at 2 6 billion went there when she died in 2004 156 He also pledged 50 million to the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington where he began serving as an adviser in 2002 157 In 2006 he auctioned his 2001 Lincoln Town Car 158 on eBay to raise money for Girls Inc 159 In 2007 he auctioned a luncheon with himself that raised a final bid of 650 100 for the Glide Foundation 160 Later auctions raised 2 1 million 161 162 1 7 million 163 and 3 5 million The winners traditionally dine with Buffett at New York s Smith and Wollensky steak house The restaurant donates at least 10 000 to Glide each year to host the meal 164 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 On C SPAN BookTV Nader said Buffett invited him to breakfast after the book came out and was quite intrigued by the book He also told Nader of his plan to get billionaires all over the world to donate 50 of their estate to charity or good works 165 On December 9 2010 Buffett Bill Gates and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed a promise they called the Gates Buffett Giving Pledge in which they promise to donate to charity at least half of their wealth and invite other wealthy people to follow suit 13 166 In 2018 after making almost 3 4 billion donations 167 Buffett was ranked 3rd in the Forbes List of Billionaire 2018 168 Warren Buffett continues to help fund and support his family s individual foundations which include Susan Buffett s Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation Susan Alice Buffett s Sherwood Foundation Howard Graham Buffett s Howard G Buffett Foundation and Peter Buffett s NoVo Foundation 169 170 Warren Buffett was also supportive of his sister Doris Buffett s Letters Foundation and Learning By Giving Foundation 171 172 In November 2022 Warren Buffett made a donation of 750 million in Berkshire Hathaway shares to four charitable foundations run by his children 1 5 million Class B shares of his conglomerate to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation named after his first wife He also 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 173 Political and public policy views Buffett and President Obama in the Oval Office July 14 2010 In addition to political contributions over the years Buffett endorsed and made campaign contributions to Barack Obama s presidential campaign On July 2 2008 Buffett attended a 28 500 per plate fundraiser for Obama s campaign in Chicago 174 Buffett intimated that John McCain s views on social justice were so far from his own that McCain would need a lobotomy for Buffett to change his endorsement 175 During the second 2008 U S presidential debate McCain and Obama after being asked first by presidential debate mediator Tom Brokaw both mentioned Buffett as a possible future Secretary of the Treasury 176 Later in the third and final presidential debate Obama mentioned Buffett as a potential economic advisor 177 Buffett was also a financial advisor to Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 California gubernatorial election 178 On December 16 2015 Buffett endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president 179 On August 1 2016 Buffett challenged Donald Trump to release his tax returns 180 181 On October 10 2016 after a reference to him in the second presidential debate Buffett released his own tax return 182 183 He said he had paid 1 85 million in federal income taxes in 2015 on an adjusted gross income of 11 6 million meaning he had an effective federal income tax rate of around 16 percent Buffett also said he had made more than 2 8 billion worth of donations last year 183 In response to Trump saying he was unable to release his tax information due to being under audit Buffett said I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit Neither would Mr Trump at least he would have no legal problem 183 Buffett has said he would judge President Donald Trump by his results on national safety economic growth and economic participation when deciding if he would vote for him in the 2020 presidential election 184 185 Health care 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 186 Buffett compared health care costs to a tapeworm saying that they compromise US economic competitiveness by increasing manufacturing costs 186 Buffett said in 2010 that it was not sustainable for the U S to devote 17 of its GDP to healthcare expenditure noting that many other nations spent a much smaller proportion of their GDP on health expenditures with better healthcare outcomes 187 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 also said that other countries spend much less and receive much more in health care value visits hospital beds doctors and nurses per capita 188 Buffett faults the incentives in the United States medical industry that payers reimburse doctors for procedures fee for service leading to unnecessary care overutilization instead of paying for results 189 He cited Atul Gawande s 2009 article in the New Yorker 190 as a useful consideration of US health care with its documentation of unwarranted variation in Medicare expenditures between McAllen Texas and El Paso Texas 189 Buffett raised the problem of lobbying by the medical industry saying that they are very focused on maintaining their income 191 Curbing population growth Buffett has expressed concerns about unchecked population growth In 2009 he met with several other billionaires to discuss healthcare education and slowing population growth Called The Good Club by an insider the billionaires had given away 45 billion to philanthropic causes and included Oprah Winfrey Michael Bloomberg and David Rockefeller Jr 192 The meeting has drawn criticism from some right wing blogs with some believing the group to be a part of a secret sterilization society 193 Buffett is a long time supporter of family planning The Buffett Foundation has given over 1 5 billion to abortion research to include 427 million to Planned Parenthood 194 Taxes See also Buffett Rule source source source source source source source source source source source source track President Obama announcing the Buffett Rule Buffett stated that he only paid 19 percent of his income for 2006 48 1 million in total federal taxes due to their source as dividends and capital gains while his employees paid 33 percent of theirs despite making much less money 195 How can this be fair Buffett asked regarding how little he pays in taxes compared to his employees How can this be right He also added There s class warfare all right but it s my class the rich class that s making war and we re winning 196 197 After Donald Trump accused him of taking massive deductions Buffett countered I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward 198 Buffett favors the inheritance tax saying that repealing it would be like choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold medal winners in the 2000 Olympics 199 In 2007 Buffett testified before the Senate and urged them to preserve the estate tax so as to avoid a plutocracy 200 Some critics argued that Buffett through Berkshire Hathaway 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 201 Buffett believes government should not be in the business of gambling or legalizing casinos calling it a tax on ignorance 202 Dollar and gold The trade deficit induced Buffett to enter the foreign currency market for the first time in 2002 He substantially reduced his stake in 2005 as changing interest rates increased the costs of holding currency contracts Buffett remained bearish on the dollar stating that he was looking to acquire companies with substantial foreign revenues Buffett has been critical of gold as an investment with his critique being based primarily on its non productive nature In a 1998 address at Harvard Buffett said It gets dug out of the ground in Africa or someplace Then we melt it down dig another hole bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it It has no utility Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head In 1977 about stocks gold farmland and inflation he stated Stocks are probably still the best of all the poor alternatives in an era of inflation at least they are if you buy in at appropriate prices 203 China Buffett invested in PetroChina Company Limited and in a rare move posted a commentary 204 on Berkshire Hathaway s website stating why he would not divest over its connection with the Sudanese civil war that caused Harvard to divest He 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 In October 2008 Buffett invested 230 million for 10 of battery maker BYD Company SEHK 1211 which runs a subsidiary of electric automobile manufacturer BYD Auto In less than one year the investment reaped over 500 return 205 In May 2018 BYD s shares had a substantial fall with a total net investment loss of 9 billion This was Buffett s worst investment in China 206 Tobacco During the RJR Nabisco Inc hostile takeover fight in 1987 Buffett was quoted as telling John Gutfreund 207 I ll tell you why I like the cigarette business It costs a penny to make Sell it for a dollar It s addictive And there s fantastic brand loyalty Buffett quoted in Barbarians at the Gate The Fall of RJR Nabisco Speaking at Berkshire Hathaway Inc s 1994 annual meeting Buffett said investments in tobacco are 208 fraught with questions that relate to societal attitudes and those of the present administration I would not like to have a significant percentage of my net worth invested in tobacco businesses The economy of the business may be fine but that doesn t mean it has a bright future Buffett Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting Coal In 2007 Buffett s PacifiCorp a subsidiary of his MidAmerican Energy Company canceled six proposed coal fired power plants These included Utah s Intermountain Power Project Unit 3 Jim Bridger Unit 5 and four proposed plants previously included in PacifiCorp s Integrated Resource Plan The cancellations came in the wake of pressure from regulators and citizen groups 209 Renewable energy Native American tribes and salmon fishermen sought to win support from Buffett for a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River owned by PacifiCorp which is a Berkshire Hathaway company David Sokol responded on Buffett s behalf stating that the FERC would decide the question 210 211 Expensing of stock options He has been a strong proponent of stock option expensing on corporate income statements At the 2004 annual meeting he lambasted a bill before the United States Congress that would consider only some company issued stock options compensation as an expense likening the bill to one that was almost passed by the Indiana House of Representatives to change the value of Pi from 3 14159 to 3 2 through legislative fiat 212 When a company gives something of value to its employees in return for their services it is clearly a compensation expense And if expenses don t belong in the earnings statement where in the world do they belong 213 Technology In May 2012 Buffett said he had avoided buying stock in new social media companies such as Facebook and Google because it is hard to estimate future value He also stated that initial public offering IPO of stock are almost always bad investments Investors should be looking to companies that will have good value in ten years 214 Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies In an interview with CNBC in January 2018 Buffett said that the recent craze over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies won t end well adding that when it happens or how or anything else I don t know But he said he would not take a short position on bitcoin futures 215 Film and televisionAside from countless television appearances on various news programs Buffett has appeared in numerous films and TV programs both documentary and fiction Some film and television cameos he has made include Wall Street Money Never Sleeps 2010 The Office U S All My Children and Entourage 2015 216 He has been a guest 10 times on Charlie Rose and was the subject of the HBO documentary feature Becoming Warren Buffett 2017 and the BBC production The World s Greatest Money Maker 2009 Bibliography Buffett playing cards with Bill Gates at Borsheims during the 2018 shareholder s weekend Books about Buffett In October 2008 USA Today reported at least 47 books were in print with Buffett s name in the title The article quoted the CEO of Borders Books George Jones as saying that the only other living persons named in as many book titles were U S presidents world political figures and the Dalai Lama 217 Buffett said that his own personal favorite is a collection of his essays called The Essays of Warren Buffett 218 which he described as a coherent rearrangement of ideas from my annual report letters 217 Books or publications by Buffett The Essays of Warren Buffett Lessons for Corporate America Warren Buffett and Lawrence A Cunningham The Cunningham Group revised edition April 11 2001 ISBN 978 0 9664461 1 1 The Essays of Warren Buffett Lessons for Corporate America Second Edition Warren E Buffett and Lawrence A Cunningham The Cunningham Group 2nd edition April 14 2008 ISBN 978 0 9664461 2 8 Some best selling or otherwise notable books about Buffett Carol J Loomis Tap Dancing to Work Warren Buffett on Practically Everything 1966 2012 A Fortune Magazine Book Preston Pysh Warren Buffett s Three Favorite Books 219 an interactive book that references Buffett s Books for online videos 217 Roger Lowenstein Buffett Making of an American Capitalist Robert Hagstrom The Warren Buffett Way 217 220 Alice Schroeder The Snowball Warren Buffett and the Business of Life 221 written with Buffett s cooperation 222 Mary Buffett and David Clark Buffettology 223 and four subsequent books combined sales of more than 1 5 million copies 217 Janet Lowe Warren Buffett Speaks Wit and Wisdom from the World s Greatest Investor 224 John Train The Midas Touch The Strategies That Have Made Warren Buffett America s Preeminent Investor 225 Andrew Kilpatrick Of Permanent Value The Story of Warren Buffett 226 the longest of the books about Buffett with 330 chapters 1 874 pages and 1 400 photos weighing 10 2 pounds 217 Robert P Miles 2004 Warren Buffett Wealth Principles and Practical Methods Used by the World s Greatest Investor John Wiley and Sons ISBN 978 0 471 46511 9 John P Reese The Guru Investor How to Beat the Market Using History s Best Investment Strategies 227 includes step by step stock picking method based on Buffett s approach Tavakoli Janet M January 6 2009 Dear Mr Buffett What an Investor Learns 1 269 Miles from Wall Street John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 0 470 44273 9 Janjigian Vahan May 1 2008 Even Buffett Isn t Perfect What You Can and Can t Learn from the World s Greatest Investor Penguin ISBN 9781440631474 See alsoBuffett indicatorReferences Stempel Jonathan February 24 2020 Warren Buffett says I m a Democrat and would have no trouble voting for Bloomberg Reuters Retrieved November 2 2021 Warren Buffett Biography Biography com FYI A amp E Networks Archived from the original on January 28 2016 Retrieved January 28 2016 Ten great investors Incademy Investor Education Harriman House Ltd Archived from the original on November 20 2015 Retrieved November 20 2015 Farrington Robert April 22 2011 The top 10 investors of all time The College Investor The College Investor LLC Archived from the original on November 20 2015 Retrieved November 20 2015 a b Bloomberg Billionaires Index Warren Buffett Bloomberg com Bloomberg L P Retrieved February 2 2023 Charlie Munger Cnn com June 11 2014 Archived from the original on February 2 2019 Retrieved March 11 2019 Clifford Catherine February 26 2018 Berkshire Hathaway s Warren Buffett remembers meeting Charlie Munger Cnbc com Archived from the original on June 26 2019 Retrieved March 11 2019 The Greatest Investors Warren Buffett Investopedia com Archived from the original on December 26 2018 Retrieved March 6 2009 Markels Alex July 29 2007 How to Make Money the Buffett Way U S News amp World Report Archived from the original on October 22 2013 Sullivan Aline December 20 1997 Buffett the Sage of Omaha Makes Value Strategy Seem Simple Secrets of a High Plains Investor International Herald Tribune Archived from the original on March 7 2016 Retrieved February 20 2017 Gogoi Pallavi May 8 2007 What Warren Buffett might buy NBC News Archived from the original on March 20 2013 Retrieved May 9 2007 Buffett Warren June 16 2010 My philanthropic pledge CNN Archived from the original on September 20 2020 Retrieved August 3 2020 a b US billionaires pledge 50 of their wealth to charity BBC August 4 2010 Archived from the original on August 30 2010 Retrieved September 6 2010 Blair Elliot January 29 2004 Nebraska family clashes over love money and death USA Today Archived from the original on August 30 2010 Retrieved May 23 2010 Warren Buffett s High School Yearbook Totally Nailed What He Would Be When He Grew Up Business Insider Archived from the original on August 30 2017 Retrieved May 15 2017 Robert G Hagstrom The Warren Buffett Way Wiley Publishers p 29 Retrieved May 6 2016 Hagstrom Robert 2001 The Essential Buffett Timeless Principles for the New Economy Wiley p 24 Levere Jane January 30 2017 New HBO Documentary On Warren Buffett Uses Family Photos Home Movies To Reveal His Life Story Forbes Archived from the original on September 8 2017 Retrieved July 7 2017 A voracious reader his entire life at age seven he read a book he borrowed from the library One Thousand Ways to Make 1000 and inspired by its lessons began selling Coca Cola gum and newspapers Buffett becomes world s richest BBC March 6 2008 Archived from the original on March 9 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 a b c Warren Buffett Timeline About Money Retrieved April 30 2015 permanent dead link Cross Mary 2013 100 People Who Changed 20th Century America Vol 1 Santa Barbara CA ABC CLIO p 451 ISBN 978 1 61069 085 0 Doris Buffett works one on one to help with billionaire brother s charity May 27 2014 The Christian Science Monitor May 27 2014 Archived from the original on January 4 2015 Retrieved January 4 2015 Special Feature April 29 1999 Berkshire and Buffett Fool com Archived from the original on July 14 2010 Retrieved November 28 2010 Robert P Miles 2004 Warren Buffett wealth principles and practical methods used by the world s greatest investor John Wiley and Sons p 26 ISBN 978 0 471 46511 9 a b Cai Charlie X Keasey Kevin 2022 The Experts and the Evidence A Practical Guide to Stock Investing West Sussex UK John Wiley amp Sons p 11 ISBN 978 1 119 84255 2 a b c 1634 1699 McCusker J J 1997 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States Addenda et Corrigenda PDF American Antiquarian Society 1700 1799 McCusker J J 1992 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States PDF American Antiquarian Society 1800 present Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Consumer Price Index estimate 1800 Retrieved April 16 2022 Gheen Kate Alpha Sigma Phi comes back to Penn Thedp com Archived from the original on April 21 2019 Retrieved April 21 2019 History Warrenbuffett com Archived from the original on December 21 2016 Retrieved December 13 2016 Hagstrom 2005 p 14 Warren Buffett is now the richest man in the world with 65 billion GE Raises 15 billion Buffett Gets Preferred Stake Update3 harvnb error no target CITEREFHagstrom2005 help Heath Jason April 24 2012 What Warren Buffett s cancer diagnosis can teach investors Financial Post Archived from the original on July 9 2013 Retrieved March 4 2015 Cabot Heritage Corporation January 15 2013 Who is Warren Buffett NASDAQ Archived from the original on May 19 2015 Retrieved March 4 2015 GEICO s Story From the Beginning GEICO www geico com Archived from the original on February 15 2020 Retrieved November 16 2020 Lowenstein Roger 1996 Buffett The Making of an American Capitalist p 43 ISBN 0 385 48491 7 Lecture at the University of Florida School of Business Transcript PDF document PDF Intelligent Investor October 15 1998 Archived PDF from the original on October 11 2010 Retrieved May 7 2010 Person to Person Warren Buffett CBS News Archived from the original on November 20 2013 Retrieved April 17 2020 Schroeder Alice 2008 The Snowball Warren Buffett and the Business of Life Bantam Dell p 169 ISBN 978 0 553 80509 3 Schudel Matt July 30 2004 Susan T Buffett 72 Dies Wife of Billionaire Investor The Washington Post p B06 Archived from the original on November 7 2012 Retrieved July 13 2009 Billionaire Houses Forbes Archived from the original on October 17 2016 Retrieved October 20 2016 Poppick Susie May 1 2016 This Is How Much It Costs to Live Next Door to Warren Buffett Money com Archived from the original on April 28 2022 Retrieved October 1 2016 Buffett Warren Letter from Warren Buffett to Partners 1960 Buffett Partnership Letter Series 1960 Part 2 NASDAQ November 6 2012 Archived from the original on November 7 2017 Retrieved November 5 2017 Lowenstein Roger 1995 Buffett The Making of an American Capitalist 2008 Trade Paperback ed New York Random House Trade Paperbacks pp 65 66 ISBN 9780804150606 Buffett s Worst Trade CNBC October 18 2010 Graham Kenny August 3 2009 Diversification Strategy How to Grow a Business by Diversifying Successfully Kogan Page Publishers p 160 ISBN 978 0 7494 5833 1 Kleinfield N R ABC is being sold for 3 5 billion 1st network sale Archived August 22 2017 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times March 19 1985 Capcities ABC Broadcasting March 25 1985 pp 31 35 Inaction Can be as Dangerous as Bad Action Aly Gonenne Class of 2004 Duke Leadership Development Initiative Mbaa fuqua duke edu Archived from the original on June 18 2010 Retrieved May 23 2010 Securities Trading Investigation C SPAN September 4 1991 Archived from the original on June 23 2020 Retrieved June 23 2020 Learn About the Life and Business of Billionaire Warren Buffett The Balance Archived from the original on March 4 2017 Retrieved March 3 2017 CFP Matthew Frankel November 13 2017 8 Warren Buffett Deals That Won Big The Motley Fool Archived from the original on September 5 2019 Retrieved September 5 2019 Berkshire Hathaway Inc historical prices Google Finance Archived from the original on August 30 2010 Retrieved May 23 2010 a b General Re Settlement in AIG Case Closes Difficult Chapter The Rational Walk The Rational Walk January 21 2010 Archived from the original on July 23 2014 Retrieved August 16 2014 Warren E Buffett February 21 2003 Berkshire s Corporate Performance vs the S amp P 500 PDF Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Archived PDF from the original on September 28 2014 Retrieved August 16 2014 Diane Brady Marcia Vickers Mike McNamee April 10 2005 AIG What Went Wrong Bloomberg Businessweek Bloomberg LP Archived from the original on September 16 2014 Retrieved August 16 2014 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link AIG to Pay 800 Million to Settle Securities Fraud Charges by SEC Over 1 6 billion to be Paid to Resolve Federal and New York State Actions Securities and Exchange Commission February 9 2006 Archived from the original on June 10 2017 Retrieved September 18 2017 Loomis Carol J June 25 2006 Warren Buffett gives away his fortune Fortune HELP WANTED Warren Buffett Replacement ABC News Archived from the original on May 22 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 Crippen Alex WSJ to Warren Buffett Time to Get a New Crystal Ball CNBC Archived from the original on June 10 2011 Retrieved May 20 2008 Buffett Warren E October 16 2008 Buy American I am The New York Times Archived from the original on November 26 2012 Retrieved December 25 2012 Dabrowski Wojtek February 7 2008 Buffett Bank woes are poetic justice Reuters Archived from the original on February 14 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 Even Buffett Can t Escape Markets Storms Berkshire Profit Falls 77 Insurance Journal November 9 2008 Archived from the original on February 24 2009 Retrieved November 14 2008 Press Release Berkshire Hathaway to Invest 5 billion in Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs Archived from the original on December 20 2008 Retrieved November 14 2008 a b Stempel Jonathan November 24 2008 Buffett to disclose more on derivatives Reuters Archived from the original on December 3 2008 Retrieved November 27 2008 Fontanella James July 11 2008 ftalphaville ft com Buffett helps Dow pay 19bn for R amp H Financial Times Archived from the original on March 13 2009 Retrieved February 23 2009 1 Warren Buffett Forbes March 5 2008 Archived from the original on February 11 2011 Retrieved May 20 2008 Buffett overtakes Gates to top new Forbes list Reuters October 10 2008 Archived from the original on October 14 2008 Retrieved October 10 2008 The World s Billionaires Forbes March 5 2008 Archived from the original on November 9 2017 Retrieved May 20 2008 2 Warren Buffett The World s Billionaires 2009 Forbes February 13 2009 Archived from the original on June 2 2010 Retrieved May 23 2010 Clark Andrew October 1 2008 Warren Buffett to buy 3bn of General Electric preferred stock The Guardian Archived from the original on September 15 2016 Retrieved December 13 2016 Berkshire Hathaway unloads J amp J and P amp G The Financial Express February 17 2009 Archived from the original on October 15 2009 Retrieved February 23 2009 Schroeder Alice The Snowball Warren Buffett and the Business of Life ISBN 0 553 80509 6 Bantam Sept 2008 Josh Funk Buffett says nation will face higher unemployment Archived June 22 2011 at the Wayback Machine AP on Seattle Times March 9 2009 Retrieved November 28 2010 Buffett The economy has fallen off a cliff Archived September 2 2017 at the Wayback Machine MSN March 9 2009 Retrieved April 3 2009 Stempel Jonathan August 20 2014 UPDATE 3 U S fines Berkshire over stock deal Buffett admits mistake Archived October 17 2015 at the Wayback Machine Reuters com Retrieved August 21 2014 Lionel Laurent February 5 2009 Buffett Sinks Billions Into Swiss Re Forbes Archived from the original on October 20 2018 Retrieved September 18 2017 Jolly David February 5 2009 Swiss Re Gets 2 6 billion From Berkshire Hathaway The New York Times Archived from the original on July 1 2017 Retrieved February 20 2017 Haig Simonian Francesco Guerrera February 5 2009 Swiss Re turns to Buffett for new funding Financial Times Archived from the original on August 29 2010 Retrieved March 17 2009 Alice Schroeder on Buffett and BNI Which Company Will Berkshire Hathaway Acquire Next GuruFocus com Archived from the original on November 22 2009 Retrieved May 23 2010 FTGlobal500 pdf June 2009 Financial Times Warren Buffett s Multi Billion Mistake with ConocoPhillips COP Gurufocus com Archived from the original on March 4 2009 Retrieved May 23 2010 Buffett buying Burlington rail in his biggest deal Reuters Archived from the original on June 23 2019 Retrieved June 24 2019 Berkshire Hathaway Inc to Acquire Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation BNSF for 100 Per Share in Cash and Stock Press release Business Wire Archived from the original on June 23 2019 Retrieved June 24 2019 Credit rating agencies not to blame for crisis says Buffett Insideireland ie June 3 2010 Archived from the original on August 2 2012 Retrieved November 28 2010 Quick Becky March 20 2011 Berkshire Will Not Exercise Goldman Sachs Warrants Immediately CNBC Archived from the original on October 15 2012 Retrieved May 4 2011 Harper Christine March 18 2011 Goldman Sachs to Pay 5 65 billion to Redeem Buffett s Stake Business Week Archived from the original on April 24 2011 Retrieved May 4 2011 Quick Becky March 20 2011 Where Will Warren Buffett Hide From Goldman Sachs CNBC Archived from the original on October 15 2012 Retrieved May 4 2011 Buffett sheds tech aversion with big IBM investment Reuters November 14 2011 Archived from the original on October 17 2015 Retrieved July 3 2017 Warren Buffett invests in Media General newspapers BBC News May 17 2012 Archived from the original on May 20 2012 Retrieved May 25 2012 Rushe Dominic May 17 2012 Warren Buffett s Berkshire Hathaway buys Media General newspaper group The Guardian London Archived from the original on September 22 2013 Retrieved May 25 2012 Crippen Alex July 18 2013 Warren Buffett s Berkshire Hathaway bets on Atlantic City CNBC News Archived from the original on September 21 2013 Retrieved September 20 2013 Buhayar Noah September 20 2013 Buffett Calls Federal Reserve History s Greatest Hedge Fund Bloomberg Archived from the original on September 21 2013 Retrieved September 20 2013 Warren Buffett s firm just made the most money ever in a single quarter August 2 2014 Archived from the original on August 17 2014 Retrieved August 21 2014 Li Yun June 29 2021 Warren Buffett says the pandemic has had an extremely uneven impact and is not yet over CNBC Archived from the original on June 30 2021 Retrieved June 30 2021 Lou Hoffman The Hoffman Agency Startup lessons learned from Warren Buffett April 13 2010 Retrieved April 16 2010 How Inflation Swindles the Equity Investor Warren Buffett Fortune May 1977 Official Buffett Biography to Hit Shelves The New York Times August 12 2008 Archived from the original on July 19 2009 Retrieved August 15 2008 Warren Buffett Carol Loomis November 22 1999 Mr Buffett on the Stock Market Fortune 140 10 Archived from the original on November 27 1999 Retrieved September 12 2019 a b Warren Buffett Oracle of Omaha criticizes Wall Street and praises immigrants Reuters via the Guardian February 25 2017 Archived from the original on March 1 2017 Retrieved March 1 2017 Gelles David February 28 2015 Warren Buffett Rails Against Investment Bankers The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 26 2022 Bary Andrew Alleghany Deal Shows How Much Warren Buffett Dislikes Investment Bankers www barrons com Retrieved April 26 2022 Fox Matthew Warren Buffett s disdain for investment banking money shufflers leads to lower takeover price for Alleghany Corp shareholders Markets Insider Retrieved April 26 2022 Berkshire Hathaway price for Alleghany shows Warren Buffett disdain for fees NYSE BRK A Seeking Alpha seekingalpha com March 22 2022 Retrieved April 26 2022 Yates Chelsea The Billionaire and the Ukulele Hear Nebraska Archived from the original on November 30 2015 Retrieved November 28 2015 Callahan David Who s Who At The Secretive Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation Inside Philanthropy Archived from the original on December 16 2017 Retrieved December 15 2017 Bailey Jeff Dash Eric September 1 2006 How Does Warren Buffett Get Married Frugally It Turns Out The New York Times Archived from the original on April 25 2009 Retrieved May 20 2008 Brian Goodman August 31 2006 Wedding Bells For Warren Buffett CBS News Archived from the original on October 13 2014 Retrieved September 9 2014 Lowenstein Roger 2008 Buffett The Making of an American Capitalist Random House ISBN 978 0 8129 7927 5 Susan Buffett in Her Own Words Conversations with Charlie Rose Bookworm Omaha Archived from the original on December 23 2007 Retrieved May 20 2008 Also freely available at 1 Archived September 26 2017 at the Wayback Machine The Rich Man s Michael Moore Archived September 1 2017 at the Wayback Machine The Wall Street Journal Robert Frank February 23 2008 Goodman Leah McGrath December 2008 The Billionaire s Black Sheep Marie Claire Archived from the original on May 20 2010 Retrieved March 19 2010 Nichols Michelle February 21 2008 Documentary on wealth gap divides Buffett family Reuters Archived from the original on May 20 2010 Retrieved March 19 2010 Schroeder Alice 2008 The snowball Warren Buffett and the business of life New York Bantam Books ISBN 978 0 553 80509 3 OCLC 225852426 Smith Rich June 29 2005 Stupid CEO Tricks Motley Fool Archived from the original on June 13 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 2008 CEO Compensation for Warren E Buffett Equilar Archived April 14 2009 at the Wayback Machine Warren Buffett Forbes Archived from the original on May 28 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 Loudenback Madeline Stone Tanza For almost 2 years no one wanted to buy Warren Buffett s Southern California vacation home but it finally sold for 7 5 million Business Insider Retrieved June 12 2022 Chairman s Letter 1989 Berkshire Hathaway Archived from the original on June 8 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 Owen David September 17 2007 Turning Tricks The rise and fall of contract bridge The New Yorker Archived from the original on March 6 2012 Retrieved November 25 2011 Moore Martha T December 19 2005 Billionaires bank on bridge to trump poker USA Today Archived from the original on May 15 2010 Retrieved May 23 2010 Blackstone John February 17 2008 Bringing Back Bridge CBS News Archived from the original on May 26 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 dead link Doreen MacMillan October 5 2012 Bridge Scene United States team secures the 2012 Warren Buffett Cup Collier Citizen Scripps Media Inc Archived from the original on September 11 2014 Retrieved September 9 2014 The Varsity Zone Talks Football with Warren Buffett YouTube Archived from the original on October 27 2020 Retrieved May 23 2010 Sherman Mitch November 7 2009 From the sidelines Can some of these guys suit up Omaha World Herald APS Member History search amphilsoc org Retrieved June 9 2021 Warren Buffett Martha Stewart Gisele Bundchen and Kosmos Featuring Carl Sagan Headline New Slate of Purpose Driven Entertainment for Children Business Wire July 24 2009 Archived from the original on October 5 2015 CNBC TRANSCRIPT Warren Buffett s Secret Millionaire s Club Live Interview on Squawk Box CNBC July 24 2009 Archived from the original on September 1 2017 Retrieved September 18 2017 Wired Archived July 24 2013 at the Wayback Machine article Faces of the New Atheism The Scribe published November 2006 Retrieved November 10 2009 How Warren Buffett made his billions Rediff com December 26 2006 Archived from the original on May 25 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 Taylor III Alex June 4 2006 Buffett backs GM and buys a Caddy CNN Archived from the original on September 29 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 Kim Tae May 5 2018 Warren Buffett I was wrong on Google and Amazon Jeff Bezos achieved a business miracle CNBC Archived from the original on May 6 2018 Retrieved May 6 2018 Piers Morgan October 22 2013 Warren Buffett on cell phones email and material goods CNN Archived from the original on October 7 2014 Retrieved November 11 2014 Bursztynsky Jessica February 24 2020 Billionaire Apple investor Warren Buffett finally trades in his 20 flip phone for an iPhone 11 CNBC Archived from the original on February 27 2020 Retrieved February 27 2020 Chairman s Letter 1993 Berkshire Hathaway Archived from the original on June 29 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 How billionaire Warren Buffett became the face of Cherry Coke in China ABC News April 5 2017 Archived from the original on April 5 2017 Retrieved April 5 2017 France Presse Agence April 5 2017 Billionaire Warren Buffett becomes face of Cherry Coke in China The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Archived from the original on April 5 2017 Retrieved April 5 2017 Celebrities who are related to US presidents Insider com a b Warren Buffett diagnosed with stage one prostate cancer BBC News Archived from the original on January 5 2016 Retrieved December 27 2015 Sam Ro September 15 2012 Warren Buffett Completes Cancer Treatments Business Insider Archived from the original on September 16 2012 Retrieved September 16 2012 The World s Billionaires Forbes March 5 2008 Archived from the original on November 9 2017 Retrieved May 23 2010 Boyle Christina October 1 2009 Bill Gates Warren Buffett Christy Walton top 2009 s Forbes 400 Richest Americans list Daily News New York Archived from the original on October 4 2009 Retrieved May 23 2010 Warren Buffett signs over 30 7B to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation USA Today June 26 2006 Archived from the original on November 16 2009 Retrieved May 23 2010 The Forbes 400 The Richest People In America Forbes Archived from the original on October 23 2011 Retrieved June 29 2014 Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch Voted Top Money Managers of the Century Business Wire November 22 1999 Archived from the original on December 9 2007 Retrieved May 20 2008 Cramer James J April 19 2003 Warren Buffett Time Archived from the original on May 17 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 Julianna Goldman February 15 2011 Obama Honors Buffett George H W Bush With Medal of Freedom Bloomberg Archived from the original on February 18 2011 Retrieved February 15 2011 The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers Foreign Policy November 29 2010 Archived from the original on December 3 2010 Retrieved November 28 2010 How Inflation Swindles the Equity Investor Warren E Buffett Fortune May 1977 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine An Exclusive Hour with Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates Charlie Rose Retrieved May 20 2008 Loomis Carol J June 25 2006 Warren Buffett gives away his fortune Fortune Archived from the original on January 3 2016 Retrieved December 22 2015 Gates Buffett gift may help cure worst diseases NBC News June 26 2006 Archived from the original on September 13 2013 Retrieved May 20 2008 The birth of philanthrocapitalism The Economist February 23 2006 Archived from the original on October 4 2008 Retrieved February 23 2009 O Brien Timothy L Saul Stephanie June 26 2006 Buffett to Give Bulk of His Fortune to Gates Charity The New York Times Archived from the original on February 20 2017 Retrieved February 20 2017 Yuki Noguchi June 26 2006 Gates Foundation to Get Bulk of Buffett s Fortune The Washington Post p A01 Archived from the original on December 9 2016 Retrieved September 18 2017 Li Yun June 23 2021 Warren Buffett gives away another 4 1 billion resigns as trustee at Gates Foundation CNBC Retrieved June 23 2021 Carol J Loomis June 25 2006 A conversation with Warren Buffett Fortune Archived from the original on January 11 2020 Retrieved August 3 2020 Most of Susan Buffett Estate to Go to Foundation The Foundation Center August 11 2004 Archived from the original on August 30 2010 Retrieved May 20 2008 America s Most Generous Donors Rank 1 Warren E Buffett Chronicle of Philanthropy Philanthropy com February 22 2007 Archived from the original on February 13 2010 Retrieved May 23 2010 Chapnick Nate Warren Buffett Forbes Archived from the original on June 4 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 girls inc eBay Archived from the original on June 11 2011 Retrieved May 20 2008 Lindsay Goldwert July 1 2007 Lunch With Warren Buffett 650 100 Charity Auction Winner Bids Big Money For Steak Lunch With Billionaire Buffett CBS News Archived from the original on June 27 2009 Retrieved February 23 2009 Zuill Lilla June 28 2008 uk reuters com Warren Buffett lunch sells for record 2 11 mln Reuters Archived from the original on January 12 2009 Retrieved February 23 2009 cnbc com Warren Buffett Charity Lunch Auction Ends with High Bid of 2 110 100 CNBC June 27 2008 Archived from the original on December 5 2008 Retrieved February 23 2009 Funk Josh June 6 2010 Buffett hopes lunch auction again draws big bids Associated Press Archived from the original on June 8 2010 Retrieved June 7 2010 Cost to lunch with Warren Buffett 3 5 million Yahoo News June 9 2012 Archived from the original on March 5 2016 Retrieved January 15 2017 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Ralph Nader Books Quotes Education History Accomplishments Legacy YouTube www youtube com Retrieved November 16 2020 Moss Rosabeth December 14 2010 Four Strategic Generosity Lessons Business Week Archived from the original on February 25 2011 Retrieved March 9 2011 Buffett donates 3 4 billion to Gates and family charities Msn com Archived from the original on July 17 2018 Retrieved July 17 2018 The World s Billionaires 2018 Forbes com Archived from the original on November 29 2014 Retrieved July 17 2018 Warren Buffett donates 2 8 billion again Fortune com Archived from the original on April 15 2019 Retrieved April 21 2019 Candid Buffett Boosts Commitment to Children s Family Foundations Philanthropy News Digest PND Archived from the original on April 21 2019 Retrieved April 21 2019 Doris Buffett s Learning by Giving Foundation It All Started at Davidson Davidson edu Retrieved April 21 2019 permanent dead link How Warren Buffett s fortune is going directly to those in need PBS NewsHour February 2 2017 Archived from the original on April 21 2019 Retrieved April 21 2019 Buffett gives more than 750M in Berkshire shares to charities www foxbusiness com November 24 2022 Michael Luo and Christopher Drew July 3 2008 Obama Picks Up Fund Raising Pace The Washington Post Archived from the original on May 1 2013 Retrieved September 24 2008 Squawk Box Transcript Becky Quick Sits Down with Billionaire Investor Warren Buffett CNBC May 5 2008 Archived from the original on May 13 2008 Retrieved September 12 2008 Transcript of second McCain Obama debate CNN October 10 2008 Archived from the original on October 9 2008 Retrieved October 10 2008 Obama appoints Buffett as economic adviser Reuters November 7 2008 Archived from the original on July 24 2013 USA Today Schwarzenegger taps Buffett as finance advisor Archived September 10 2012 at the Wayback Machine August 14 2003 Warren Buffett Endorses Hillary Clinton and Calls for Higher Taxes on Wealthy Archived May 17 2017 at the Wayback Machine December 16 2015 Haskell John Hansler Jennifer August 1 2016 Warren Buffett Challenges Trump to Show Tax Returns Says He s Afraid ABC News Archived from the original on August 1 2016 Retrieved August 2 2016 Donald Trump says general election may be rigged Los Angeles Times August 1 2016 Archived from the original on August 2 2016 Retrieved August 2 2016 Transcript of the Second Debate The New York Times October 10 2016 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on October 11 2016 Retrieved October 11 2016 a b c Buffett Just Released His Own Tax Data to Hammer Trump Archived from the original on October 11 2016 Retrieved October 11 2016 Warren Buffett Will judge Trump by results but unlikely he ll vote for him in 4 years USA TODAY Archived from the original on April 9 2019 Retrieved March 11 2019 Belvedere Matthew J August 30 2017 Warren Buffett Here s why I haven t been criticizing Donald Trump Cnbc com Archived from the original on April 10 2019 Retrieved March 11 2019 a b McCarthy Ryan March 3 2010 Warren Buffett On CNBC Health Care Is Like An Economic Tape Worm WATCH HuffPost AP and CNBC Archived from the original on October 22 2011 Retrieved November 5 2011 6 minutes in McCarthy Ryan March 3 2010 Warren Buffett On CNBC Health Care Is Like An Economic Tape Worm WATCH HuffPost AP and CNBC Archived from the original on October 22 2011 Retrieved November 5 2011 7 minutes in McCarthy Ryan March 3 2010 Warren Buffett On CNBC Health Care Is Like An Economic Tape Worm WATCH HuffPost AP and CNBC Archived from the original on October 22 2011 Retrieved November 5 2011 4 minutes in a b McCarthy Ryan March 3 2010 Warren Buffett On CNBC Health Care Is Like An Economic Tape Worm WATCH HuffPost AP and CNBC Archived from the original on October 22 2011 Retrieved November 5 2011 9 to 10 minutes in Atul Gawande June 1 2009 The Cost Conundrum What a Texas town can teach us about health care The New Yorker Archived from the original on June 10 2011 Retrieved June 29 2011 McCarthy Ryan March 3 2010 Warren Buffett On CNBC Health Care Is Like An Economic Tape Worm WATCH HuffPost AP and CNBC Archived from the original on October 22 2011 Retrieved November 5 2011 11 minutes in Angeles John Harlow Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation Archived from the original on September 22 2020 Retrieved August 14 2020 Frank Robert May 26 2009 Billionaires Try to Shrink World s Population Report Says The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on August 17 2020 Retrieved August 14 2020 Martin Nina July 14 2016 How One Abortion Research Megadonor Forced the Supreme Court s Hand Archived from the original on August 7 2020 Retrieved August 14 2020 Warren Buffett Forbes 24 42 3 November 26 2007 Stein Ben November 26 2006 In Class Warfare Guess Which Class Is Winning The New York Times Retrieved October 28 2020 It turned out that Mr Buffett with immense income from dividends and capital gains paid far far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the clerks or anyone else in his office Further in conversation it came up that Mr Buffett doesn t use any tax planning at all He just pays as the Internal Revenue Code requires How can this be fair he asked of how little he pays relative to his employees How can this be right Even though I agreed with him I warned that whenever someone tried to raise the issue he or she was accused of fomenting class warfare There s class warfare all right Mr Buffett said but it s my class the rich class that s making war and we re winning Zweifel Dave October 6 2010 Plain Talk There s class war and rich are winning The Cap Times Capital Newspapers Inc Retrieved October 28 2020 There are some studies that have estimated that the tax breaks and services that benefit the wealthy add up to 400 billion a year compared to the 116 billion spent on programs for the poor Class warfare One of the richest Americans Warren Buffett replies to that notion There s class warfare but it s my class the rich class that s making war and we re winning Pramuk Jacob October 10 2016 Warren Buffett fires back at Donald Trump s comments about his taxes CNBC Retrieved October 28 2020 In Sunday night s presidential debate in St Louis Trump claimed that Buffett took a massive deduction while defending his claimed 916 million loss in 1995 that allowed him to avoid federal income tax in at least some years Buffett a supporter of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said Monday that Trump has not seen my income tax returns I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944 when I was 13 Though being a slow starter I owed only 7 in tax that year I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward Buffett said in a statement Rich Americans back inheritance tax BBC News BBC February 14 2001 Retrieved October 28 2020 A group of the United States most wealthy citizens have urged Congress to reject a plan by the new Bush administration to phase out taxes on estates and gifts by 2009 Mr Buffett who himself did not sign the petition because he thought it did not go far enough said that repealing the estate tax would be a terrible mistake It was like choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold medal winners in the 2000 Olympics Removing the tax would lead to the creation of an aristocracy of wealth instead of a meritocracy he added Jim Snyder November 15 2007 Buffett tells Senate Finance panel dynastic wealth on the rise in U S The Hill Archived from the original on November 20 2007 Berlau John August 23 2004 Buffetted The Sage of Omaha loves the estate tax as well he might National Review Retrieved April 3 2016 Yet the parallel question is never asked Would these tycoons benefit from the more interventionist government policies advocated by Kerry and the Democrats A look at Buffett s holdings shows that in at least one case that of the estate tax the answer is a strong yes Ackman Dan October 11 2004 America The Casino Nation Forbes Archived from the original on April 13 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 Buffett Warren May 1977 How Inflation Swindles the Equity Investor Fortune Shareholder Proposal Regarding Berkshire s Investment In PetroChina PDF Berkshire Hathaway Archived PDF from the original on May 28 2008 Retrieved May 20 2008 Warren Buffett s 500 Return from BYD The Show Just Begun ChinaStakes Archived from the original on September 6 2009 Retrieved September 16 2009 Shares in a Buffett Backed Chinese Car Company Are Getting Crushed May 3 2018 Archived from the original on May 3 2018 Retrieved May 3 2018 Burrough Bryan Helyar John 1990 Barbarians at the Gate The Fall of RJR Nabisco New York Harper amp Row ISBN 0 06 016172 8 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Jenell Wallace April 25 1994 Warren Buffett Cools on His Attraction to Tobacco Business Legacy Tobacco Documents Library University of California San Diego Library Bloomberg Archived from the original on August 30 2010 Retrieved March 17 2009 Utah Petition Encouraging Energy Diversification PDF Public Service Commission of Utah July 28 2007 Archived from the original PDF on October 9 2013 Josh Funk May 3 2008 Buffett again rebuffs advocates who want Klamath dams out USA Today Archived from the original on October 18 2011 Retrieved September 18 2017 Tucker S Craig May 1 2009 Klamath Dam Removal Advocates Call on Buffett s Company To Close the Deal Remove Klamath Dams California Sportfishing Protection Alliance Karuk Tribe Warren Buffett Fuzzy Math And Stock Options The Washington Post July 6 2004 p A19 Archived from the original on September 6 2008 Retrieved May 23 2010 Buffett Warren E July 24 2002 Warren E Buffett Who Really Cooks the Books The New York Times Archived from the original on October 21 2008 Retrieved May 23 2010 Buffett on Facebook and Google hard to estimate future value Chicago Sun Times Associated Press May 7 2012 Archived from the original on February 1 2013 Retrieved May 7 2012 Buffett on cryptocurrencies I can say almost with certainty that they will come to a bad ending CNBC January 10 2018 Archived from the original on October 20 2018 Retrieved January 11 2012 Warren Buffett would like to clarify something about his Entourage cameo finance yahoo com Retrieved December 15 2020 a b c d e f Del Jones Book titles like to play the Warren Buffett name game Archived October 18 2011 at the Wayback Machine USA Today October 22 2008 Buffett Warren Cunningham Lawrence 2008 The Essays of Warren Buffett Lessons for Corporate America Second Edition The Cunningham Group ISBN 978 0 9664461 2 8 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Pysh Preston September 15 2011 Warren Buffett s Three Favorite Books A guide to the Intelligent Investor Security Analysis and the Wealth of Nations Pylon Publishing Company ISBN 978 0 98296 762 1 Hagstrom Robert G Miller Bill R Fisher Ken 2005 The Warren Buffett Way Hoboken N J John Wiley ISBN 0 471 74367 4 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Schroeder Alice 2008 The Snowball Warren Buffett and the Business of Life Bantam Dell Pub Group 2008 ISBN 978 0 553 80509 3 Janet Maslin Books of The Times The Richest Man and How He Grew and Grew His Company Too Archived February 19 2017 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times September 28 2008 Buffett Mary Clark David June 8 1999 Buffettology The Previously Unexplained Techniques That Have Made Warren Buffett The World s Most Famous Investor Scribner ISBN 978 0 684 84821 1 Lowe Janet August 31 2007 Warren Buffett Speaks Wit and Wisdom from the World s Greatest Investor Wiley ISBN 978 0 470 15262 1 Train John 1987 The midas touch the strategies that have made Warren Buffett America s pre eminent investor New York Harper amp Row ISBN 978 0 06 015643 5 Kilpatrick Andrew 2008 Of Permanent Value The Story of Warren Buffett 2008 Cosmic Edition 2 volumes Andy Kilpatrick Publishing Empire AKPE ISBN 978 1 57864 455 1 Reese John P Jack Forehand 2009 The Guru Investor How to Beat the Market Using History s Best Investment Strategies Wiley ISBN 978 0 470 37709 3 Further readingSchwartz Mattathias January 2010 The Church of Warren Buffett Harper s 320 1916 27 35 Retrieved July 14 2013 Rojas Claudio R 2014 An Indeterminate Theory of Canadian Corporate Law University of British Columbia Law Review 47 1 59 128 The author s perspective on Berkshire Hathaway s investment philosophy was informed by discussions with Warren Buffett in Omaha Nebraska pp 59 122 124 SSRN 2391775 External links Wikiquote has quotations related to Warren Buffett Wikimedia Commons has media related to Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway official website The Buffett Buffett Partnership Letters Forbes Profile Warren Buffett s Letters to Shareholders Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway SEC 13F Filings Appearances on C SPAN Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose Warren Buffett collected news and commentary at The New York Times Warren Buffett collected news and commentary at The Guardian Stempel Jonathan February 12 2008 FACTBOX Warren Buffett at a glance Reuters Honorary titlesPreceded byIngvar Kamprad World s richest person 1995 Succeeded byBill GatesPreceded byBill Gates World s richest person2008 2009 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Warren Buffett amp oldid 1152202116, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.