Warren Buffett: Retiring at 94, a legacy of patience and profit

Warren Buffett was born on 30 August 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska. Even as a child, he displayed exceptional abilities to make money and invest. At just 11 years old, he bought his first shares – three shares of Cities Service Preferred – for himself and his sister. As a teenager, he earned money by, among other things, delivering newspapers, selling chewing gum, Coca-Cola, or operating pinball machines in local barber shops. By the age of 15, he had already amassed several thousand dollars, which he invested in land, among other things.

After graduating from high school, he started his education at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania but quickly transferred to the University of Nebraska. Despite his father's objections, he applied to Harvard Business School but was rejected. Instead, he ended up at Columbia Business School, where he studied under Benjamin Graham – the father of value investing and one of Buffett's most important mentors.

After his studies, he worked for several years at Graham's firm before returning to Omaha to start his own investment companies. Graham taught Buffett the fundamental principles of investing:

• Buying stocks that are priced below their intrinsic value (the so-called margin of safety),
• avoiding speculation,
• making investment decisions based on fundamental analysis rather than emotions or temporary trends.

However, Buffett eventually evolved and diverged from Graham's "pure" approach, which focused on so-called cigar butt stocks (cheap companies with one or two profit opportunities), towards investing in great companies at reasonable prices – a lesson he learned from Charlie Munger.

In 1965, he took control of the failing textile company Berkshire Hathaway, which was eventually transformed into an investment conglomerate serving as a vehicle for his investment strategies.

Thanks to patience, consistency, and the philosophy of "buy cheap, hold long," Buffett achieved billionaire status. His investments include giants such as Coca-Cola, American Express, Apple, and Bank of America.

As of May 4, 2025, Berkshire Hathaway is the eighth most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization, amounting to approximately $1.164 trillion (£0.88 trillion). The company also holds record cash reserves of $347.7 billion (£262 billion), providing significant financial flexibility. From 1965 to 2021, the average annual return achieved by Berkshire Hathaway shareholders was 20.1%, nearly twice the average annual growth of the S&P 500 index. This is how Buffett built his legend.

The friendship and collaboration between Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger is one of the most important elements of his career – intellectually, emotionally, and strategically.

They met in 1959 in Omaha through a mutual acquaintance. Although they were several years apart (Buffett was younger), they immediately connected based on a shared approach to life, humour, and... logic. Since the 1970s, Munger has been a key advisor to Buffett and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

Warren Buffett is known for his simplicity and modesty. Despite his enormous wealth (which for years placed him among the top richest people in the world), he still lives in the same house in Omaha, which he bought in 1958 for $31,500 (£23,700). His favourite meal? A cheeseburger and Coca-Cola, often on the way to work.

For years, Warren Buffett has considered compound interest one of the most powerful phenomena in finance – and the key to his investment success, often speaking about it this way:

"Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world." (In fact, this is a paraphrase also attributed to Einstein, but Buffett has repeated it many times)

He is also known for his philanthropy – along with Bill Gates, he founded The Giving Pledge, a commitment by the wealthiest to donate the majority of their wealth to charity. Buffett himself has pledged to donate 99% of his wealth to charitable causes.

Warren Buffett will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway by the end of the year – the 94-year-old billionaire announced during a meeting with shareholders in Omaha. He will be replaced by Canadian Greg Abel. It's "the end of an era," evaluated CNBC television.