Quick Facts
NAME: Warren BuffettOCCUPATION: Entrepreneur
BIRTH DATE: August 30, 1930 (Age: 83)
EDUCATION: Woodrow Wilson High School, University of Pennsylvania, University of Nebraska, Columbia University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Omaha, Nebraska
Nickname: "Oracle of Omaha"
Nickname: "Sage of Omaha"
Full Name: Warren Edward Buffett
AKA: Warren Buffett
ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo
Born during the Great Depression in Nebraska, Warren Buffett is one of the wealthiest businessmen and investors alive. With a net worth of $53.5 billion as
of March 2013, Forbes is the second wealthiest American and fourth wealthiest person in the world. Completely self-made, Buffett is famous for his frugal
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| Photo Credit white House |
A math prodigy, Buffett began to show his intelligence as a young child.
His father was a stockbroker and a U.S. congressman, and Buffett spent many hours at his father's stock brokerage shop. He made his first investment at age
11, buying three shares of Cities Service Preferred. He sold his shares at a small profit, but regretted his choice when the stocks shot up to a much higher
price. Buffett used this experience as an early lesson on investment patience.
First Entrepreneurial Venture
By the age of 13, Buffett was running his own businesses as a paperboy and selling his own horseracing tip sheet. That same year, he filed his first taxreturn, claiming his bike as a $35 tax deduction.
In 1942, Buffett's father was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and his family moved to Fredricksburg, Virginia, to be closer to the
congressman's new post. Buffett attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., where
he continued plotting new ways to make money. During his high
school tenure, he and a friend purchased a used pinball machine for $25. They installed it in a Washington, D.C. barbershop and, within a few months, the
profits of the machine allowed Buffett and his friend to buy other machines. Buffett owned three machines in three different locations before he sold the
business to a War Veteran for $1,200.
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| photo credit whitehouse.gov |
Higher Education
Buffett enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 16 to study business. He stayed two years, moved to the University of Nebraska to finish up his degree, and emerged from college at age 20 with nearly $10,000 from his childhood businesses.
Buffett attended Columbia University for his advanced degree and in 1956, shortly after graduation,
he formed the firm Buffett Partnership in his hometown of
Omaha. His investment successes, particularly in buying undervalued companies whose stocks shortly began to rise, made him extremely rich and gained him the
sobriquet, "Oracle of Omaha." Other notable career succeses include helping rescue Salomon Brothers from corporate raiders (1987) and taking charge of the
New York City house (1992) in the wake of an insider trading scandal.
Frugal lifestyle, modest house
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which has remained the same salary for the last 25 years. When his first child was born, he turned a dresser drawer into the baby's bassinet and borrowed a
crib for the second child. Not one for fancy cars, Buffett drove a Volkswagen until his wife upgraded him to a Lincoln Towncar. Buffett made headlines in
2011 when he encouraged the government to increase his taxes, noting that his tax rates were unfairly significantly lower than his secretary's.
Even though most billionaires live in mansions in exotic locations, Buffett still lives in Omaha in the five-bedroom house he bought for $31,500 more than 50
years ago.
"I'm happy there," he said. "I'd move if I thought I'd be happier someplace else. How would I improve my life by having 10 houses around the
globe? I'm warm in the winter; I'm cool in the summer. It's convenient for me."
In addition to demanding fairness for American taxes, Buffett focuses heavily on philanthropy.
in San Francisco.
Record-Breaking Donation
In June 2006, Buffett made an announcement that he would be giving his entire fortune away to charity, committing 85 percent of it to the Bill and MelindaGates Foundation. This donation became the largest act of charitable giving in United States history.
The majority of Buffett's considerable fortune was amassed through Berkshire Hathaway,
a company for which he is the largest shareholder and CEO.
Once ranked as Forbes' wealthiest man in 2008, his net worth was estimated at roughly $44 billion
in 2012.
Now in his eighties, Buffett recently announced that he is battling prostate cancer. He will begin treatment in July 2012 and expects to be able to fulfill
his usual responsibilities at Berkshire Hathaway. "I feel great ... and my energy level is 100 percent," Buffett said in a statement.
Warren Buffett quotes
"You ought to be able to explain why you're taking the job you're taking, why you're making the investment you're making, or whatever it may be. And if it
can't stand applying pencil to paper, you'd better think it through some more. And if you can't write an intelligent answer to those questions, don't do it."
"Time is the friend of the wonderful business, the enemy of the mediocre."
"I have pledged – to you, the rating agencies and myself – to always run Berkshire with more than ample cash. We never want to count on the kindness of
strangers in order to meet tomorrow’s obligations. When forced to choose, I will not trade even a night’s sleep for the chance of extra profits."
"I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will."
"You don't need to be a rocket scientist. Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with 130 IQ."
"Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls-Royce to get advice from those who take the subway."
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