Warren Buffett Fast Facts

Here’s a look at the life of Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

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

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, Duracell and numerous other companies as subsidiaries.

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.

1989-2003 – Director of the Gillette Company.

1989-2006 – Director of the Coca-Cola Company.

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 presidential 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 from President Barack Obama.

August 2011 – Invests $5 billion in Bank of America.

August 14, 2011 – The New York Times publishes an op-ed written 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.

May 4, 2018 – Announces that Berkshire Hathaway bought approximately 75 million additional shares of Apple stock during the first quarter of 2018 – the company now owns more than 230 million shares.

May 3, 2021 – Buffett announces that Greg Abel, the head of Berkshire Hathaway’s non-insurance business, will be his successor.

June 23, 2021 – Buffett resigns from his trustee position at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

June 28, 2024 – Buffett tells the Wall Street Journal that he has adjusted his will. He will place his wealth in a new charitable trust overseen by his three children, instead of giving any charitable funds to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.