Warren Buffett

CNNCNNCNN (Cable News Network) is an Atlanta-based news organization founded by Ted Turner on June 1, 1980, as the world’s first 24-hour television news channel. It has been owned in turn by Turner Broadcasting System, Time Warner, AT&T and Warner Bros. Discovery, became part of Skydance Corporation along with Warner Bros. Discovery in October 2026, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry Editorial Research records that Warren Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on August 30, 1930.⁠[1]

He earned a B.S. from the University of Nebraska in 1950 and an M.S. in economics from Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University, formally Columbia University in the City of New York, is a private research university in New York City and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1754 by royal charter from King George II as King's College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York State and the fifth oldest in the United States. It was renamed Columbia College in 1784 and adopted the university name and moved to Manhattan's Morningside Heights in 1896. It has 17 schools and four affiliated colleges, with 35,978 students enrolled in fall 2025. Legal scholar Jennifer L. Mnookin became president on July 1, 2026.Open the full entry in 1951.⁠[1]

In his 2014 shareholder letter Buffett recalled that in 1951, after a conversation with GEICO’s Lorimer Davidson, he put 65% of his $9,800 net worth into GEICO stock.⁠[2]

From 1951 to 1954 he was an investment salesman at Buffett, Falk & Co., his father’s firm, and from 1954 to 1956 a security analyst at Graham-Newman Corp. in New York.⁠[1]

From 1956 to 1969 he was general partner of Buffett Partnership, Ltd. In his 2025 Thanksgiving letter he wrote that he has owned and lived in the same Omaha house since 1958.⁠[1][3]

Buffett wrote in his 2023 shareholder letter that he did not meet Charlie MungerCharlie MungerCharlie Munger (1924–2023) was an American lawyer, investor and philanthropist who served as vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway from 1978, worked alongside Warren Buffett for decades, and led Wesco Financial and the Daily Journal Corp.Open the full entry until 1959, when Munger was 35 and he was 28; the two worked together for decades afterwards.⁠[4]

According to the 2014 letter, the Buffett Partnership first bought shares of Berkshire Hathaway, a textile maker in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in December 1962 at $7.50 each, well below per-share working capital of $10.25.⁠[2]

On May 6, 1964, Berkshire tendered for 225,000 shares at $11.375. Buffett had told chief Seabury Stanton he would sell at $11.50; annoyed by the gap, he did not tender and instead kept buying, a choice he later called “a monumentally stupid decision.”⁠[2]

By April 1965 the partnership owned 392,633 of 1,017,547 shares outstanding, and it formally took control at an early-May board meeting.⁠[2]

In early 1967 Berkshire bought the insurer National Indemnity for $8.6 million, the start of a business built around insurance float. In the 2014 letter Buffett called buying it for Berkshire rather than for his partnership a “colossal mistake.”⁠[2]

He dissolved the Buffett Partnership in 1969, making Berkshire his investment vehicle, and became chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway in 1970.⁠[1][5]

In 1972 Buffett and Munger bought See’s Candies for $25 million, against an asking price of $30 million, through Blue Chip Stamps, in which they and Berkshire held large stakes. Buffett wrote that the price “made me gulp.”⁠[2]

He served on the Washington Post Company board from 1974 to 1986 and again from 1996 to 2011, on the Gillette board from 1989 to 2003 and on the Coca-Cola Company board from 1989 to 2006.⁠[1]

In his 1995 letter Buffett wrote that Berkshire had agreed to pay $2.3 billion for the half of GEICO it did not already own and completed the purchase of 100% of GEICO right after year-end.⁠[6]

In 2006 he announced plans to give his Berkshire Hathaway shares gradually to several philanthropic foundations.⁠[1]

During the 2008 financial crisis he invested $5 billion in Goldman SachsGoldman SachsGoldman Sachs is an American financial services group headquartered in New York whose businesses include investment banking, securities trading, asset management, and wealth management. It traces its origins to the commercial paper business Marcus Goldman founded in 1869; it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999 under the ticker GS and became a bank holding company in 2008. David Solomon serves as chairman and chief executive officer.Open the full entry and $3 billion in General Electric.⁠[1]

Berkshire announced it would buy the roughly 77% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe it did not own for $100 a share in cash and stock, prorated to about 60% cash and 40% stock, a deal valued at about $44 billion including some $10 billion of debt. Buffett said in the release that, most important of all, it was “an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States.”⁠[7]

The Giving Pledge says it was launched in 2010 by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett, inviting wealthy people to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.⁠[8]

On February 15, 2011 President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom; that August he invested $5 billion in Bank of America and, on August 14, published the New York Times op-ed “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich,” arguing for higher taxes on top earners, the basis of what became known as the Buffett Rule.⁠[1]

H.J. Heinz Company announced that it would be acquired by Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital3G Capital3G Capital is a global investment firm and private partnership headquartered in New York, which evolved in 2004 from the investment office of Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Herrmann Telles. It acquires consumer brands to hold over the long term with its partners directly involved in running them, having taken control of Burger King, partnered with Berkshire Hathaway to buy Heinz and bring about the Kraft Heinz merger, formed Restaurant Brands International, and acquired Skechers in 2025.Open the full entry for $72.50 a share, about $28 billion including debt.⁠[9]

In the letter marking 50 years of his leadership of Berkshire he reviewed the company’s history and said Munger’s blueprint was to forget buying fair businesses at wonderful prices and instead buy wonderful businesses at fair prices.⁠[2]

On May 4, 2018 Berkshire disclosed that it had bought about 75 million more Apple shares in the first quarter, bringing its total to over 230 million.⁠[1]

Buffett’s 2024 letter says Berkshire made its first purchases of Japan’s five large trading houses in July 2019.⁠[10]

Greg Abel recalled in his 2025 shareholder letter that at the May 1, 2021 annual meeting Munger said Abel would keep the culture; CNN records that Buffett confirmed on May 3 that Abel would succeed him as chief executive.⁠[11][1]

On June 23, 2021 he resigned as a trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.⁠[1]

On the day Munger died, Buffett said in a Berkshire release that the company could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation.⁠[12]

In his 2023 letter he called Munger the “architect” of the present Berkshire and himself the “general contractor.”⁠[4]

In his 2024 letter Buffett wrote that it would not be long before Greg Abel replaced him, and said Berkshire paid $26.8 billion to the Internal Revenue Service for that year.⁠[10]

At the 2025 annual meeting Buffett said he would recommend Abel as chief executive. Berkshire then announced that on May 4 the board voted unanimously for Abel to become president and chief executive effective January 1, 2026, with Buffett remaining chairman.⁠[13]

On November 6, 2025 Berkshire issued a release titled “IT’S NOT ME,” warning about AI-generated YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry videos impersonating Buffett and saying such fraudulent videos were spreading like a virus.⁠[14]

In a Thanksgiving letter on November 10 he said he would no longer write the annual report letter or talk at length at annual meetings, declaring that he was “going quiet”; he also converted 1,800 Class A shares into 2.7 million Class B shares for gifts to four family foundations.⁠[3]

Abel became Berkshire’s president and chief executive on January 1, 2026. In his first shareholder letter, published on February 28, he called Buffett “arguably the greatest investor of all time” and his tenure “a very hard act to follow.”⁠[11]

Berkshire announced that Buffett had become chairman emeritus effective immediately and would remain a director, that Howard G. Buffett, a director since 1993, had been elected chairman, and that Susan L. Decker would continue as lead independent director.⁠[15][5]

In a letter released with the announcement Buffett wrote that he had served Berkshire since 1965 and summed up the new arrangement: Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture.⁠[15]

The Wall Street Journal reported that Buffett watches YouTube nearly every evening at his Omaha home; he watches CNBCCNBCCNBC is an American business and financial news cable channel launched by NBC in 1989; it merged with its rival FNN in 1991 and since January 2026 has been part of Versant Media Group, spun off from Comcast.Open the full entry in the morning, but his evening viewing rarely concerns investing, ranging from Glenn Close, 1950s commercials, Paul Anka and early Frank Sinatra to railroads, the big-band era and Nebraska.⁠[16]

The report quoted his friend Sharon OsbergSharon OsbergSharon Osberg is an American bridge player and former banking technology executive who was an executive vice president running Wells Fargo's online financial services division, won two world bridge titles with U.S. teams, and is Warren Buffett's longtime bridge partner.Open the full entry, a bridge expert: “Warren’s range is broad” and “It can be the silliest things.” She said that during an August visit to Omaha they watched a documentary on Roy CohnRoy CohnRoy Cohn (1927–1986) was an American lawyer who worked on federal prosecutions early in his career, served as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953–1954 and later practised law in New York; two documentaries about him were released in 2019.Open the full entry and Uzbekistan’s version of a talent show, and the report said Buffett had lately been watching old speeches by Charlie Munger on YouTube.⁠[16][17]

The report said Buffett, who stepped down as chief executive in January, still takes part in investment decisions; he declined to comment.⁠[16]

Berkshire Hathaway: Official website: https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[15]

Social accounts: Berkshire says Buffett’s authentic channels are company releases, shareholder letters and the annual meeting, and has repeatedly warned about impersonation; this entry lists no personal social account for Buffett.⁠[14]