Warren Buffett
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Warren Buffett has been called the world's greatest investor. That is a very accurate nickname. He certainly knows about investing, or he wouldn't be worth over $36 billion today (www.forbes.com). In fact, if you had invested $10,000 in Berkshire Hathaway when he took over in 1965, you would have about $22,000,000 today (www.investorguide.com). Moreover, had you invested $10,000 with him from the beginning, in 1956, you would now be worth closer to $85 million (Lowe).
Warren Edward Buffett was born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the son of Howard and Leila Buffett. Howard, a long-time resident of Omaha, was a local stockbroker and member of the U.S. House of Representatives. As a boy, young Warren loved numbers and could easily keep track of mathematical calculations in his head. At eight, he began reading books on the stock market. And, at eleven, he bought his first shares of stock, Cities Service Preferred.
In junior high and high school he became quite a young businessman. He was living in the Washington, D.C. area at the time, while his father served four terms as a congressman. At thirteen, he worked two newspaper routes, retrieved lost golf balls, and handicapped racehorses. He saved the money he earned and bought reconditioned pinball machine for $25 each and put them in the local barbershops where he was soon making about $50 dollars per week (Train). In high school, Buffett and a friend bought a 1934 Rolls Royce for $350 and rented it out for $35 per day. When he graduated high school at sixteen, Warren had already saved up over$6000 (which would worth $60,000, today), which he ...