Here’s a look at the life of Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Personal:
Birth date: August 30, 1930
Birth place: Omaha, Nebraska
Birth name: Warren Edward Buffett
Father: Howard Buffett, politician and businessman
Mother: Leila (Stahl) Buffett
Marriages: Astrid Menks (August 30, 2006-present); Susan (Thompson) Buffett (April 19, 1952-July 29, 2004, her death)
Children: with Susan (Thompson) Buffett: Peter, 1958; Howard, 1954; Susan, 1953
Education: University of Nebraska, B.S., 1950; Columbia University, M.S. in Economics, 1951
Other Facts:
Attended the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School but dropped out to go to the University of Nebraska.
Nicknamed the “Oracle of Omaha.”
At the age of 13, Buffett filed his first tax return for income from newspaper routes.
Lives in the same home in Omaha that he purchased in 1958 for $31,500.
Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company which lists GEICO, Fruit of the Loom, Dairy Queen, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and numerous other companies as subsidiaries.
Timeline:
1951-1954 – Investment salesman for Buffett, Falk, & Co., his father’s investment firm.
1954-1956 – Security analyst for Graham-Newman Corp. in New York.
1956-1969 – General partner in Buffett Partnership, Ltd., an investment firm he started.
1962 – Begins buying stock in Berkshire Hathaway, a textile manufacturer in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
1965 – Buys controlling stock in Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
1969 – Dissolves Buffett Partnership. Berkshire Hathaway becomes his investment vehicle.
1970 – Becomes chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
1974-1986 and 1996-2011 – Member of the board of directors at the Washington Post Company.
1982 – Appears on the first annual Forbes list of the 400 richest people in America. His net worth is estimated at $250 million.
1989-2003 – Director of the Gillette Company.
1989-2006 – Director of the Coca-Cola Company.
1993 – Reaches the number one spot on the Forbes list of the 400 richest people in America. His net worth is estimated at $8.33 billion.
2003 – Joins Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California gubernatorial campaign as an adviser.
May 2004 – Buffett announces he has agreed to serve as an economic adviser to John Kerry during the Kerry campaign.
2006 – Announces plans to gradually donate all his Berkshire Hathaway shares to philanthropic foundations.
September 2008 – Invests $5 billion in Goldman Sachs and $3 billion in General Electric.
2010 – Launches The Giving Pledge with Bill Gates. The initiative encourages the world’s billionaires to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
February 15, 2011 – Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
August 2011 – Invests $5 billion in Bank of America.
August 14, 2011 – The New York Times, publishes an op-ed wriitten by Buffett, “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich.” He calls on Congress to increase taxes on Americans making more than $1 million. This becomes known as the Buffett Rule.
April 17, 2012 – Buffett confirms through a press release that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
March 20, 2017 – Ranks in second place on the Forbes list of billionaires, with a net worth of $75.6 billion at the time of publication.