New York: The influential billionaire Warren Buffett is one of the richest people in the world. But unlike many billionaires, it has never been attracted to luxury.
He prefers fast food on a gourmet kitchen, lives in the same house that he bought in 1958 and is still drinking several cans of Coca-Cola every day.
Known as “Oracle d’Omaha”, Buffett has built his fortune through long -term intelligent investments – and he promised to give it almost everything.
Buffett carefully rejected exotic financial vehicles, as well as the point of business looters, rather adopting a strategy for buying and maintaining long -term investments.
His inheritance
Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate based in Nebraska, whose various holders go from Duracell batteries to insurer Geico via brands to painting through diamonds.
The company also holds participations in actions carefully selected in the giants of American companies such as Coca-Cola and Chevron.
Now, at the age of 94, he is ready to move away from the company he built, announcing on Saturday that he planned to resign at the end of the year and recommends to his chosen successor Greg Abel to take his place as CEO of Berkshire.
According to the real -time list in real time of Forbes magazine on Saturday, its net value is 168.2 billion dollars – the fifth largest fortune in the world.
Buffett nevertheless avoided the external signs of “percent” often malignant, avoiding large ticket arts or fantasy mansions around the world.
He still lives in the same house in a quiet area of Omaha which he bought in 1958 for $ 31,500.
Its gastronomic tastes are definitely humble, especially McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets at least three times a week, potato chips for snacks, ice cream for dessert and an average of five cana-cola cans per day.
His hobbies include Bridge and playing the ukulele.
“I don’t need fantasy clothes,” said Buffett CBS In 2013. “I don’t need fantasy food.”
However, he recognized in 2006 that he had a private jet, saying that madness made his life easier.
Philanthropy
The same year, Buffett announced that he would give 99% of his fortune to philanthropic causes.
Joined by his friend and partner of Pont Bill Gates, Buffett then convinced other billionaires to undertake to also give at least half of their wealth.
Such campaigns have made buffett a beloved figure within the American company, helping to attract small investors in the annual meeting of Berkshire every spring to Omaha, a rally which was nicknamed a sort of “Woodstock for the capitalists”.
The investor has often used his platform to comment on economic policy, or to express spikes on a multitude of subjects, of the questionable value of Bitcoin for the trade policies of US President Donald Trump.
Buffett has been opened in the past to support the Democratic Party, while frequently expressing the idea that its taxes should have been higher, given its wealth.
Early commercial instincts
Born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha as the second of the three children, Buffett discovered an early taste for business after reading the book a thousand ways to win $ 1,000 as a young boy.
Buffett’s childhood was not easy. He described going through a display flight phase and being forced to sail in his abusive mother Leila, who used to reprimand his sister Doris as “stupid”.
He had planned to abandon his studies, but this idea was opposed to the veto by his father, a businessman and a politician who served in the congress.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania as the first cycle before transferring to the University of Nebraska, where he obtained a trade diploma.
Later, he obtained a master’s degree in economics from Columbia University in New York in 1951.
Buffett worked on Wall Street in the 1950s, establishing the Buffett partnership, which merged in 1965 with Berkshire Hathaway, then a textile company.
A passionate reader of the financial press and beyond, Buffett has gravity towards investments which, according to him, were undervalued, holding them until they paid.
He transformed Berkshire into a distant conglomerate known for its investments in sectors of nuts and balls such as energy, banks, plane trips and food. Holdings also include Citigroup, Kroger, Apple and American Express.
Active in its 90s
Putting on classic gray costumes, colorful glasses and ties, the white hair buffett remained a dynamic player on the American shopping scene in his 90s.
He has long run Berkshire with his longtime vice-president Charlie Munger, six years older.
Then in 2021, as Buffett was 90 years old, Berkshire officially designated Abel as his successor – a plan that now seems to be set in motion.
Buffett married his first wife Susan in 1952. They had three children. Although they lived for decades, they remained married until his death in 2004.
He then married his longtime partner Astrid Menks in 2006.
