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See the full story · 3 sourcesWarren Buffett is the chairman and former CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Daniel Zuchnik / Getty Images
It's Warren Buffett's 96th birthday, his first since stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO.
The legendary investor bought his first stock at 11 and built a $1 trillion company.
Buffett made billions by investing in stocks like Coca-Cola and buying businesses like Geico.
It's Warren Buffett's 96th birthday, his first since stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO. He remains chairman of the storied company.
Buffett retired from the top job at the turn of this year, marking the end of an era that saw the legendary investor transform a failing textile mill into a $1 trillion conglomerate over six decades.
Here's a look back at Buffett's remarkable life.
Born to do business
A family heads to California during the Great Depression. Bettmann/Getty Images
Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on August 30, 1930, at the height of the Great Depression. He was the second of three children and the only son of Howard, a stockbroker and later a congressman, and Leila, a homemaker.
The investor started his business career at six, selling Juicy Fruit chewing gum door to door. He later resold individual bottles of Coca-Cola from a pack, delivered newspapers, and built up a pinball machine business, which he later sold.
Buffett was 11 when he bought his first stock, Cities Service Preferred, and filed his first tax return at 13. He bought a farm at 14 and rented it to a tenant farmer.
When he was 16, he had amassed $5,000, around $85,000 in today's money.
Learning from the best
Woodrow Wilson High School; Bill Pugliano/Getty
Buffett majored in business at Wharton before transferring to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduating in 1950, at the age of 19.
Around that time, he read Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor," which introduced him to the key tenets of value investing, such as buying stocks so cheap that they provide a "margin of safety."
Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School after learning Graham taught there. After graduating, he worked for his father's company for a year before joining Graham's investment firm, where he received a masterclass in analyzing companies and identifying bargain stocks.
In 1952, at age 22, he married a college student, Susan Thompson, and the pair had their first child, Susan or "Little Susie," in 1953. He began teaching night classes on investing and inviting family and friends to invest their money with him. In 1956, as Graham prepared to retire, Buffett moved back to Omaha and prepared to launch his firm, Buffett Partnership.
Buying and building
KMTV Omaha/Jeremy Harris Lipschultz/YouTube
Buffett embraced Graham's trademark "cigar butt" approach of sniffing out cheap stocks with "one last puff" of value, such as Sanborn Map Company and Dempster Mill Manufacturing. His partnership's assets grew from about $100,000 to $20 million as his outperformance attracted more investors and his returns compounded.
He and his wife had their second child, Howard, in 1954, and their third, Peter, in 1958. Buffett also met Charlie Munger in 1959, who encouraged him to shift from buying dirt-cheap businesses to "wonderful companies at fair prices."
In 1962, Buffett began acquiring shares of Berkshire Hathaway, a struggling textile mill. He seized control of the company in 1965 after its management agreed to buy him out, then tried to shortchange him.
Buffett Partnership also invested in American Express after its stock plunged during the Salad Oil Scandal, and in Disney after Walt Disney gave Buffett a personal tour of Disneyland and sold the investor on his vision.
Partnerships, old and new
A billboard welcoming Berkshire Hathaway shareholders displays a vintage picture of Chairman Buffett and Vice Chairman Munger at the company's annual meeting in Omaha Thomson Reuters
Buffett acquired insurers such as National Indemnity, paving the way for him to use "float" — premiums collected before claims are paid — as a source of low-cost, permanent capital for investing.
In 1969, the investor grew concerned about overvalued assets and a lack of compelling opportunities, so he decided to wind down his Buffett Partnership and return his partners' money while retaining a significant stake in Berkshire. The firm's assets had reached $104 million in 1970, reflecting, in part, a compounded annual return of 31% since 1956.
Buffett invested in the Illinois Bank and Trust Company in 1969, acquired See's Candies in 1972, built a stake in the Washington Post Company, and bet on other businesses such as Blue Chip Stamps. Munger also became his formal business partner and joined Berkshire as vice-chair.
By age 45, Buffett's wealth had grown to about $34 million, or roughly $210 million today.
Deals of a lifetime
NBC News
Berkshire invested in car insurer Geico and other companies such as Capital Cities/ABC and Wesco Financial, as Buffett began seeking out businesses with "moats" or durable competitive advantages.
His wife moved to San Francisco in 1977 to pursue singing and activism. She introduced Buffett to a friend, Astrid Menks, who moved in with Buffett and took care of him, and whom Buffett would marry after Susan died in 2004.
In 1983, Berkshire acquired Nebraska Furniture Mart . In 1985, Buffett became a billionaire at age 55, appearing on the Forbes 400 list that year.
Status and scandals
Warren Buffett, 1995 AP Images
Buffett's yearly shareholder letters, colorful interviews, and annual shareholder gatherings made him a celebrity and earned him the moniker the "Oracle of Omaha."
He had built a billion-dollar stake in Coca-Cola by 1989, drawn by its global brand, pricing power, and cash generation. He also invested in Gillette and established a stake in Wells Fargo.
Buffett met Bill Gates at a 4th of July event in 1991 and became fast friends with the Microsoft cofounder. He also stepped in as interim chairman of Salomo...
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