One of the most successful investors in the world, with a net worth of over US$85.6 billion as of December 2020, making him the world's fourth-wealthiest person, Warren Buffett is the "Oracle" or "Sage" of Omaha, as referred to by global media.
Born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, Warren Buffett is the second of three children and the only son of Leila (née Stahl) and Congressman Howard Buffett. He began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School.
Warren displayed an interest in money, business and investing at a young age of seven, so much so that even his senior yearbook picture said ,"likes math, a future stockbroker". Even his early childhood years were enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures including newspaper delivery business and pinball machine setup.
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. On a trip to New York City at age ten, he made a point to visit the New York Stock Exchange.
Warren finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947.
Due to his father's insistence, Buffett entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 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, he earned a Master of Science in Economics from Columbia in 1951. After graduating, he attended the New York Institute of Finance.
In 1951, Buffett started working at Buffett-Falk & Co. as an investment salesman. Through his simple yet profound investment principles, Ben Graham became an idyllic figure to the 21-year old Warren Buffett. making him work at Graham-Newman Corp. as a securities analyst from 1954 to 1956. As Graham retired, and with Buffett's personal savings being over $174,000, he started Buffett Partnership Ltd. in 1956. By 1960, Buffett operated seven partnerships. And within the next two years, he 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.
By the late '70s, his reputation had grown to the point that even a slight rumor that Buffett was buying a stock was enough to shoot its price up 10%.
Warren took over as Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. from 1970, after merging all his partnerships together. Initially a textile business, Buffett closed the last of the mills in 1985 and turned the venture into the insurance sector completely. He became a billionaire when Berkshire Hathaway began selling class A shares on May 29, 1990, with the market closing at $7,175 a share.
This humongous financial success didn't get to Buffett's head at any point, he remained true to his principles. He once again broke stereotypes by approving a new charity plan by Berkshire in 1981, that called for each shareholder to designate charities which would receive $2 for each Berkshire share the stockholder owned. The notable tycoon has even vowed to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes.
