Learning from Warren Buffett-Richest person in the world
Age: 75
Fortune: self made
Source: Berkshire Hathaway
Net Worth: 42.0
Country Of Citizenship: United States
Residence: Omaha, Nebraska, United States, North America
Industry: Investments
Marital Status: widowed, 3 children
University of Nebraska Lincoln, Bachelor of Arts / Science
Columbia University, Master of Science
Warren Buffett is the richest man in the world. Nicknamed the “Oracle of Omaha,” Buffett is renowned the world over for his Wall Street savvy and entrepreneurial management skills. Son of a Congressman and stockbroker father, Buffett sold newspapers as a child and re-sold bottles of Coca Cola to his boyhood pals for a profit. His business education paid off: eventually he became one of the largest stockholders of the soft drink company.
Buffett began learning about management and investing from his father long before his 10th birthday. At age 13, Buffett filed his first 1040 income tax form. He reportedly claimed as a deduction the $35 purchase of a bicycle to facilitate his paper route.
Buffett set up Buffett Partnership Limited, an investment management firm that he operated from his bedroom. It was when Buffett bought 49% in a failing textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway, which he garnered working capital to invest toward unparalleled success in Wall Street. His self-described management style is that of “capital allocator.” Today, Berkshire is one of only seven companies in the nation that enjoys the AAA rating from Moody’s. It owns profitable subsidiaries including Fruit of the Loom, GEICO Direct Auto Insurance, See’s Candies, Borsheim’s Fine Jewelry, and more.
At Present
Buffett becomes the richest man in the world according to Forbes, dethroning Bill Gates, who held the title for several years.
Philanthropy
In June 2006, Buffett gave around 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (worth approximately USD 30.7 billion as of June 23 2006) making it the largest charitable donation in history. The foundation will receive 5% of the total donation on an annualized basis each July, beginning in 2006. Buffett will also join the board of directors of the Gates Foundation, although he does not plan to be actively involved in the foundation’s investments.
He also announced plans to contribute additional Berkshire stock valued at approximately $6.7 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and to other foundations headed by his three children. The bulk of the estate of his wife, valued at $2.6 billion, went to that foundation when she died in 2004.
His children will not accede to a significant part of his wealth. These actions are consistent with statements he has made in the past indicating his opposition to the transfer of great fortunes from one generation to the next. Buffett once commented, “I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing”
Quote by Warren Buffett
“I don’t have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It’s like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GNP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don’t do that though. I don’t use very many of those claim checks. There’s nothing material I want very much. And I’m going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die. “(Lowe 1997:165–166)
May 9th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Very interesting man..I really never knew anything about him till I read your blog entry. Very encouraging. Thank you.