Happy Birthday Warren Buffett: Saluting The Richest Philanthropist!

People like Warren Buffett are extremely rare births. The journey of the seventh richest person in the world, from having just $114.75 in 1942 to owning Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) and reaching a net worth of a staggering $148 billion today, has been fun-filled and full of ups and downs. Even though Buffett has lived most of his life in the spotlight, there are some fascinating yet little-known facts about this American business mogul, timeless investor, and philanthropist.

Full Name: Warren Edward Buffett
Date of Birth: 30 August 1930 (Age 94)
Net Worth: $147.2 billion (as of August 2024)

1. Warren Buffett was born to Leila (née Stahl) and Congressman Howard Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska. When his father was elected to the first of four terms in the US Congress in 1942, the family relocated to Washington, D.C. Warren attended Alice Deal Junior High School and Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947. In his high school yearbook photo, he was described as “likes math; a future stockbroker.”
2. Warren Buffett Childhood Ventures: Buffett’s early childhood years were filled with entrepreneurial ventures. At 6 in 1936, Buffett began selling Juicy Fruit chewing gum packs and Coca-Cola bottles and profited from both products. Buffett, then 15 in 1945, saved $1200 from selling Washington Post newspapers and used his earnings to buy a 40-acre farmland in Omaha, Nebraska.
3. At the age of seven, he borrowed the book “One Thousand Ways to Make $1000” from the Omaha public library, which became a source of inspiration for him.
4. Warren Buffett buys his first stock: It’s no surprise that Buffett’s career in investing started in high school, given that he was already exploring ways to make money and picking stocks by the age of 11. In 1941, Warren Buffett bought 6 shares of Cities Service, now known as CITGO, at $38.25 each. He later sold them for $40 each. However, the stock soared to $202 in the following years, providing Buffett with an early and valuable lesson on the importance of patience in investing.
5. In 1943, Warren Buffett filed his first income tax return, claiming a $35 tax deduction for using his bicycle for work. Surprisingly, he was only 13 years old at the time.
6. After being rejected by Harvard Business School, Warren Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School in 1949. The decision to attend Columbia was influenced by the fact that investment guru Benjamin Graham was teaching there. In 1951, Buffett received his Master of Science in Economics from Columbia University.
7. Warren Buffett’s Early Career: From 1951 to 1954, Buffett served as an investment salesman at Buffett-Falk & Company. In 1954, he received a job offer from Benjamin Graham for $12,000 a year. This role allowed Buffett to work closely with Walter Jerome Schloss, a well-known American investor and fund manager. Between 1954 and 1956, Buffett worked as a securities analyst at Graham-Newman Corp, gaining invaluable experience that would shape his future in investing.
8. Warren Buffett’s Investment Partnerships: On May 1, 1956, Warren Buffett founded his first investment partnership, Buffett Associates, Ltd. In 1961, at the age of 31, he was managing seven partnerships, including Buffett Associates, Buffett Fund, Dacee, Emdee, Glenoff, Mo-Buff, and Underwood. In 1962, Buffett merged all partnerships into one and renamed it Buffett Partnerships, Ltd.
9. Warren Buffett became a millionaire at the age of 32. His partnerships were valued at $7,178,500, of which he received over $1,025,000.
10. Warren Buffett purchased Berkshire Hathaway shares for the first time: In 1962, Buffett spotted an opportunity when Berkshire Hathaway, a struggling textile manufacturer, was trading at just $7.60 per share. Sensing its potential, he began purchasing its shares aggressively. By 1963, his partnerships were paying $14.86 per share, while the company had $19 per share in working capital alone — excluding the value of its fixed assets. By the end of that year, Buffett’s partnership had become the largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway. In 1965, he took full control of the company and appointed Ken Chase as CEO.
11. Warren Buffett Becomes the World’s Richest Person: In 2008, Warren Buffett was named the richest person in the world by Forbes, with a staggering net worth of $62 billion. This marked a significant moment, as Buffett surpassed Bill Gates, who had held the top position on Forbes’ list of the World’s Billionaires for 13 consecutive years.
12. During the 2008 financial crisis, Warren Buffett was regarded as the go-to person when things went south; if you are in trouble, Warren Buffett can save you. The situation was reenacted in the HBO biographical drama television film “Too Big To Fail,” which aired on May 23, 2011.
13. Warren Buffett’s First Marriage: In 1952, Warren Buffett married Susan Thompson at Dundee Presbyterian Church in Omaha. Susan and Buffett’s sister, Roberta, had been roommates at Northwestern University, which led to their introduction. In 1977, Susan moved to San Francisco to pursue her singing career, and the couple began living separately. Buffett was reportedly heartbroken by the separation but took most of the blame, saying, “It was definitely 95% my fault … I just wasn’t attuned enough to her, and she’d always been perfectly attuned to me.” Despite living apart, they remained married until Susan’s death from cancer in 2004.
14. Warren Buffett’s Second Marriage: In 2006, Warren Buffett remarried Astrid Menks in a small ceremony at his daughter Susie’s Omaha home. Strangely enough, Warren’s first wife, Susan, introduced him to Astrid Menks, a restaurant hostess at the time, in 1978. According to the Daily Mail, Susan asked Astrid to look after her husband while she was away, saying, “Astrid, will you take Warren, make him some soup, go over there and look after him?”. Astrid and Buffett then started dating and lived together while maintaining a close friendship with Susan. The trio even signed their names at the bottom of the Christmas holiday cards every year.
15. Warren Buffett Charity: In June 2022, Warren Buffett donated roughly $4 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway’s stock to charitable foundations. His lifetime donations reached a record $48 billion by mid-2022.
16. When asked whether his intelligence or discipline helped him more, Warren Buffett said, “To be a Great Investor you don’t have to have a Terrific IQ. What you do need is the right temperament, you need to be able to detach yourself from the views of others. You need to be able to look at the facts about a business or an industry and evaluate a business unaffected by what people think. And that is very difficult for most people.”
17. Warren Buffett, also known as “the Oracle of Omaha”, “You have to learn to value businesses, you don’t have to be right on anything except one. There is no game like playing stocks, except you should not play too often.“
18. Forbes ranked Warren Buffett 16th among the World’s Most Powerful People in 2018. As of 2024, he maintains the same position, continuing to hold his place among the powerful figures globally.
19. Warren Buffett’s net worth increased from $96 billion in 2021 to $133 billion in 2024, making him the world’s 6th billionaire.
20. In August 2024, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway made history by becoming the first U.S. non-tech company to surpass a market capitalization of $1 trillion. As of now, its shares are trading at $464.59 each.

The one who practices simplicity and humility, despite immense wealth and fame, is truly a legend. We hope Warren Buffett lives long enough to achieve the goal of becoming the “oldest man there was”. Wishing him many more charismatic, healthy, and incredible years ahead.

The post is a part of a B’day Series where we celebrate the birthday of renowned personalities from the Tech Industry, very frequently. The series includes Entrepreneurs, C-level Executives, innovators, or renewed leaders who moved the industry with their exponential skill set and vision. The intent is to highlight the person’s achievements and touch base the little known, but interesting, part of his life. You can see the list of all earlier celebrated tech personalities, including Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayor, Sean Parker, Andy Rubin, Julian Assange, Sir Richard Branson, and Sergey Brin, by following this link or subscribing to your daily newsletter.

To make it more exciting, we suggest you make use of the comment section if you are among the ones celebrating their birthday with today’s featured personality.