At the age of 94, Warren Buffett announced on May 3, 2025, his surprise retirement from the management of his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, at the annual general meeting. With the departure of the “Oracle of Omaha,” a major chapter in the history of capitalism is coming to a close.
A patient, reasonable, and conservative investor, Warren Buffett has left his legendary mark on the global financial market over the past 60 years.
Contrary to the commonly accepted view of finance as a means of quickly accumulating wealth, Warren Buffett sees it as an almost scientific field of study.
A businessman, investor, and philanthropist, the man Wall Street nicknamed “the Oracle” has risen to become the sixth richest person in the world, with a net worth of $154 billion (€143 billion) according to the latest World’s Billionnaire List by Forbes magazine.
Early beginnings
Born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, to a stockbroker and politician father, Warren Buffett showed an entrepreneurial flair from an early age: he sold chewing gum, delivered newspapers —specifically the Washington Post—earning $175 a month at the age of 15.
He bought his first shares at the age of 11. Six shares to be exact, three for himself and the equivalent for his sister at $35 each. Learning from his mistakes, he vowed never to repeat his “premature” withdrawal when he acquired his first stock: the natural gas company Cities Service Preferred. He felt he had sold his shares too soon following a temporary decline. He retained his long-term investment vision, patiently poring over the accounts of the companies in which he invested.
After studying at the University of Nebraska and then at Columbia Business School, where he earned a master’s degree in economics, he had the opportunity to take classes with Benjamin Graham, an economist and investor known for his value investing theory, whose philosophy he adopted: buy solid, well-managed but undervalued companies and hold them for the long term.
In 1956, Warren Buffett, then aged 26, founded his first company, Buffett Associates Ltd.
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