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How a newspaper-delivering boy from Nebraska built Berkshire Hathaway and became history's most celebrated investor
Warren Buffett is widely regarded as the most successful investor of all time. Over 60 years at Berkshire Hathaway, he compounded shareholder wealth at a pace few have matched, while living modestly in the same Omaha house he bought in 1958. His folksy annual letters and plain-spoken wisdom made him a global teacher of investing — and his pledge to give away almost all his money made him one of history's great philanthropists.
Buffett was born on 30 August 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Howard Buffett, was a stockbroker and later a US congressman. Buffett showed a head for business from childhood — selling chewing gum, Coca-Cola and magazines door to door, delivering newspapers and running pinball machines in barbershops. He bought his first stock at age 11.
Buffett studied at the Wharton School before transferring to the University of Nebraska, where he graduated. After reading Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor, he enrolled at Columbia Business School to study under Graham, the father of value investing, earning a master's degree in economics in 1951.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1954–56 | Works for Benjamin Graham's firm in New York |
| 1956 | Starts the Buffett Partnership in Omaha |
| 1965 | Takes control of Berkshire Hathaway, a New England textile company |
| 1967 | Buys National Indemnity, beginning Berkshire's insurance empire |
| 1972 | Buys See's Candies |
| 1988 | Begins buying Coca-Cola stock |
| 1996 | Completes purchase of GEICO |
| 2016 onward | Builds a large stake in Apple |
| 2026 | Greg Abel becomes CEO; Buffett remains chairman |
Berkshire grew into a conglomerate owning businesses such as GEICO, BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Dairy Queen and Duracell, alongside major stakes in public companies.
Buffett's approach, refined with his long-time partner Charlie Munger (who died in 2023), rests on a few simple ideas:
He has also long recommended that most ordinary investors buy low-cost index funds.
At Berkshire's annual meeting in May 2025, Buffett surprised shareholders by announcing he would step down as CEO at the end of the year. The board appointed Greg Abel, head of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses, as president and CEO from 1 January 2026, with Buffett remaining chairman.
In 2006, Buffett pledged to give away most of his fortune, with large annual gifts of Berkshire shares to the Gates Foundation and his children's foundations. In 2010, he co-founded The Giving Pledge with Bill and Melinda Gates, encouraging billionaires to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. He has said the bulk of his estate will go to a charitable trust overseen by his children.
Buffett married Susan Thompson in 1952; they had three children — Susie, Howard and Peter. After Susan's death in 2004, he married his long-time companion Astrid Menks in 2006. He is famous for a simple lifestyle and a fondness for burgers, Cherry Coke and bridge.
No. Greg Abel became CEO on 1 January 2026. Buffett remains chairman.
Because of his remarkable investment track record and his lifelong home in Omaha, Nebraska.
Buying shares of companies trading below their intrinsic value, with a margin of safety, and holding for the long term.
Buffett's business partner and Berkshire's vice-chairman for decades; he died in November 2023.
Warren Buffett showed that patience, discipline and common sense can beat market noise over the long run. As Berkshire enters the post-Buffett era, his principles — and his commitment to giving his fortune back to society — remain his most enduring legacy.
