Read the Success Story of the Mathematical Prodigy, Warren Buffett

Born in the US state of Nebraska in 1930, Warren Buffett showed enthusiasm for running a business from an early age. He founded Buffett Partnership Ltd. in 1956, and by 1965 he had taken over the management of the Berkshire Hathaway investment group of companies. Buffett oversaw the control of the investment group and owned shares in several other companies in the fields of media, insurance, energy, food, and soft drinks until he became one of the wealthiest businessmen in the world and is best known for his contributions to philanthropy. So who is Warren Buffet? Allow us to tell the story.

Who is Warren Buffet?

Businessman and investor Warren Edward Buffett was born on August 30, 1930, during the Great Depression in America, in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. His father, Howard, was a stockbroker and a member of the US Congress. As for his mother, Leila Stahl Buffett, she was a housewife. Buffett was the second son and only brother of two other sisters.

Buffett has shown adequacy in financial and investment matters since his early childhood. In his youth, his friends and acquaintances described him as a mathematical prodigy for his ability to compile huge numbers in his head, a talent that he showed from time to time in his later years.

Warren would often visit his father at his brokerage office during his childhood and would write stock quotes on the board. Warren made his first investment at the age of 11, buying three shares of Cities Service at $38 a share. The share price soon fell to $27, but Buffett held onto his shares tightly until they reached $40.

Buffett made a small profit from selling the stock but regretted that decision when Cities Service shares later shot up to $200, and he recently cited the experience as an early lesson in patience in investing. By the age of 13, Buffett was running his own business, selling newspapers and horse-racing advice. That same year, he filed his first business tax return, deducting the $35 price of his bike from taxes.

The Buffett family moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia, after Buffett's father was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1942 in order to be close to his father's new workplace.

Buffett attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., where he continued to plot new ways to make money. During his high school years, Buffett and his friend bought a $25 pinball machine. They put the machine in a barbershop, and within a few weeks, they made a big profit, which made them buy other machines. Buffett owned gaming machines in three different places before selling them for $1,200.

When Buffett turned sixteen, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania to study commerce. He studied there for two years, then moved to the University of Nebraska to complete his bachelor's degree. He graduated from university at the age of 20, and his fortune at that time was estimated at $10,000, which he earned from his childhood businesses.

Influenced by Benjamin Graham's book "The Intelligent Investor," Buffett attended Columbia Business School to study under this famous economist and investor. After obtaining his master's degree in 1951, he worked as a bond seller for Buffett-Falk & Co. for three years. Then he worked for his teacher as a bond analyst at Graham-Newman Corp. for two years.

Warren Buffet’s Greatest Achievements:

In 1956, he founded Buffett Partnership Ltd. in his hometown of Omaha. Using the techniques he learned from his teacher, Graham, Buffett successfully identified the undervalued companies that made him a millionaire. Among the companies he valued was a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway. He began accumulating shares of this company in the early sixties, and by 1965 he had owned the company. 

Berkshire Hathaway was the result of Buffett's decision to dissolve his former company in 1969, despite its success. He proceeded to gradually abolish the textile industry division and relied on expanding the company by buying shares in the media field, such as The Washington Post, the insurance field, such as GEICO, and the energy field, such as Exxon.

The Omaha fortune teller was so successful that he was able to turn some very cheap investments into gold, most famously his purchase of the scandal-plagued Salomon Brothers in 1987.

Following Berkshire Hathaway's influential investment in Coca-Cola, Buffett became a director of the company from 1989 to 2006. He has also been a director of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings, Graham Holdings Company, and The Gillette Company.

In June 2006, Buffett announced that he would donate his entire fortune to charity, dedicating 85% of it to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As a result of this donation, the United States became the world's wealthiest nation. In 2010, Buffett and Gates announced the creation of The Giving Pledge campaign to get more wealthy people to contribute to charity.

Buffett revealed in 2012 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He began undergoing radiotherapy in July, then completed his treatment and was cleared of the disease in November. This health crisis has not slowed down the march of the 80-year-old Buffett, who has ranked annually at the top of the Forbes list of the world's richest people. In February 2013, Buffett contributed, along with investment group 3G Capital, to the $28 billion purchase of H.J. Heinz.

Other companies acquired by Berkshire Hathaway include battery maker Duracell and Kraft Foods Group, which merged with Heinz in 2015 to become the third-largest food and soft drink company in North America.

In 2016, Buffett launched Drive2Vote, a website designed to encourage Nebraska citizens to exercise their right to vote and to help register and get voters to the polls if they need transportation.

He is a supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton, for whom he declared his support in 2015. He also challenged the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, to confront and announce his tax return.

"I'll meet him in Omaha or Mar-a-Lago, or wherever he chooses, any time between now and polling day," Buffett said at the start of the Omaha race in August. "I'll bring my tax returns, and he'll bring his." Both of our statements are subject to review. And believe me, no one can stop us from talking about the content of these statements. Unlike all presidential candidates from the 1970s to that day, Trump refused to announce his tax returns to the American people.

Warren Buffet’s Personal Life:

Buffett was married twice, the first time to Suzanne Buffett from 1952 until she died in 2004, and the second time to Astrid Menkes from 2006 to the present. He has three children: Peter Andrew, Howard Graham, and Susan Ellis.