At 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself, and three for his sister Doris Buffett (who also became a philanthropist). His father took interest in educating the young Warren, at one point taking him to visit the New York Stock Exchange when he was 10. Investor Benjamin Graham was a major influential figure on the young Warren Buffett.īuffett's interest in the stock market and investing dated back to his schoolboy days he spent in the customers' lounge of a regional stock brokerage near his father's own brokerage office. They later sold the business to a war veteran for a tidy sum of $1200. Within months, they owned several machines in three different barber shops across Omaha. In 1945, as a high school sophomore, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. On his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route. While still in high school, he made money delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and stamps, and detailing cars, among other means. He worked in his grandfather's grocery store.

In one of his first business ventures, Buffett sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola, and weekly magazines door to door. Much of Buffett's early childhood years were enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures. He was inspired by a book he borrowed from the Omaha public library at age seven, One Thousand Ways to Make $1000. īuffett displayed an interest in business and investing at a young age. After finishing high school and finding success with his side entrepreneurial and investment ventures, Buffett wanted to skip college to go directly into business but was overruled by his father. In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress, and after moving with his family to Washington, D.C., Warren finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School and graduated from what was then Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947, where his senior yearbook picture reads: 'likes math a future stockbroker'.

He began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School. Early life and educationīuffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, the second of three children and the only son of Leila (née Stahl) and Congressman Howard Buffett. He founded The Giving Pledge in 2010 with Bill Gates, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes. īuffett is also a noted philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He is noted for his adherence to the principles of value investing, and his personal frugality despite his vast wealth. He has been referred to as the 'Oracle' or 'Sage' of Omaha by global media as a result of having accumulated a massive fortune derived from his business and investment success. Since 1970, Buffett has presided as the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, one of America's foremost holding companies and world's leading corporate conglomerates. In 1978, Charlie Munger joined Buffett as vice-chairman. He created Buffett Partnership, Ltd in 1956 and his investment firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway, assuming its name to create a diversified holding company, and later as the company's chairman and majority shareholder in 1970. He attended New York Institute of Finance to focus on his economics background and soon after began various investment business partnerships, including one with Graham. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing pioneered by Benjamin Graham. The son of congressman and businessman Howard Buffett, he developed an interest in business and investing during his youth, eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring to and graduating from the University of Nebraska at 19. He is one of the best-known fundamental investors in the world as a result of his immense investment success possessing a net worth of $104 billion as of March 2023, making him the fifth-richest person in the world.

He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Edward Buffett ( / ˈ b ʌ f ɪ t/ BUF-it born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist.

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