New York: The influential billionaire Warren Buffett is one of the richest people in the world. But unlike many billionaires, he has never been drawn to luxury.
He prefers fast food rather than good food, lives in the same house he bought in 1958, drinking more and more cans of Coca-Cola every day.
Known as “Oracle of Omaha”, buffett built its fortune through smart, long-term investment and he has promised to give almost all that away.
Buffett rejected students exotic financial vehicles as well as the brass cutting tactics from Corporate Raiders and instead adopted a buy-and-team strategy for long-term investment.
His inheritance
Berkshire Hathaway, the Nebraska-based conglomerate, whose various possessions range from Duracell batteries to the insurance company Geico to painting brands for diamonds.
The company also has carefully selected shares in American business giants such as Coca-Cola and Chevron.
Now, at the age of 94, he is ready to go away from the company he built, and announced on Saturday that he plans to leave at the end of the year and would recommend that his elected successor Greg Abel take his place as Berkshire CEO.
According to Forbes Magazine’s real-time rich list, from Saturday, his net worth is $ 168.2 billion-the fifth largest fortune in the world.
Buffett has nevertheless avoided catching the often malignant “one percent” that avoids large ticket art collection or smart mansions around the world.
He still lives in the same house in a quiet neighborhood in Omaha, which he bought in 1958 for $ 31,500.
His gastronomic flavor is certainly humble, including McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets at least three times a week, potato ships for snacks, ice cream for dessert and an average of five cans of Coca-Cola per week. Day.
His hobbies include bridge and playing ukulele.
“I don’t need smart clothes,” Buffett told CBS in 2013. “I don’t need smart food.”
Still, in 2006, he acknowledged that he owned a private jet and said Splurge made his life easier.
Philanthropy
That same year, Buffett announced that he would donate 99 percent of his wealth for philanthropic reasons.
Together with his friend and Bro -Partner Bill Gates, Buffett subsequently persuaded other billionaires to lift to donate at least half of their fortune away as well.
Such campaigns have made Buffett a beloved figure in American society that helps draw small investors to Berkshire’s annual meeting every spring in Omaha, a collection that has been called a kind of “Woodstock for capitalists.”
The investor has often used his platform to comment on economic policy or to express Pique on a wealth of topics, from the dubious value of Bitcoin to US President Donald Trump’s trade policy.
Buffett has been open in the past to support the Democratic Party, while also often expressing the view that his taxes should have been higher considering his wealth.
Early business instincts
Born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha as the second of three children, Buffett discovered an early taste for business after reading the book a thousand ways to earn $ 1,000 as a young boy.
Buffett’s childhood wasn’t easy. He has described going through a store lift phase and being forced to navigate around his violent mother Leila, who used to berate his sister Doris as “stupid.”
He had planned to give up his studies, but that idea was vetoed by his father, a businessman and politician who served in Congress.
He went to the University of Pennsylvania as a bachelor before transferring to the University of Nebraska, where he trained with a business degree.
He later received a master’s degree in Economics from Columbia University in New York in 1951.
Buffett worked on Wall Street in the 1950s and established the Buffett Partnership, which merged in 1965 with Berkshire Hathaway, then a textile company.
An avid reader of Financial Press and beyond, buffett buried against investments, which he thought was underestimated, holding them until they paid.
He transformed Berkshire into a remote conglomerate known for investments in nuts and bolt sectors such as energy, banking, air travel and food. Holdings also includes Citigroup, Kroger, Apple and American Express.
Active in the 90s
The white -haired buffett, which donates classic gray suits, glasses and colored ties, has remained a vibrant player on the American business scene in the 90s.
He ran Long Berkshire with his long -time Vice -President Charlie Munger, six years his senior.
Then in 2021, as Buffett became 90, Berkshire officially appointed Abel as his successor – a plan that is now being launched.
Buffett married his first wife Susan in 1952. They had three children. Although they lived apart for decades, they remained married until her death in 2004.
Then he married his long -time partner Astrid Menks in 2006.
