Born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, Warren Buffet was the second child of his family. He had two sisters. His father, Howard Buffet, was a republication politician and an American businessman. Howard represented Nebraska in the US Congress for four terms. When Warren was 12, his father was elected as a representative for the first time, so the Buffets had to move to Washington, DC.
Buffet started his elementary education at Rose Hill Elementary School in Omaha. After moving to Washington, he attended Alice Deal Junior High School and then graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School.
Having an excellent business acumen, Buffet started working in his childhood by selling Coca-Cola, chewing gum, and weekly journals. He entered the stock market first when he was 11 after finishing elementary school and before going to Washington. At that time, i.e., 1941, the US had not gotten involved in World War II yet.
Buffet was not willing to go to university, but his father persuaded him to enter the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, which is the fourth oldest university of the US. The Wharton Business School is now among the most prestigious schools of business, management, and economy in the world. Many laureates of the Noble Memorable Prize in Economic Sciences, successful entrepreneurs, and prosperous investors have studied at Wharton. Warren Buffet spent two years in the business school and then went to the University of Nebraska. To continue his education, he intended to go to Harvard Business School but did not have a chance. It was then when he realized that Benjamin Graham, a renowned professor of economics and investment, taught at Management School of Columbia University. Therefore, he chose Columbia University to earn a master of science in economics. Warren Buffet was one of the few students who succeeded in getting a top grade from Graham.
Although Warren’s father and Benjamin Graham wanted the young Warren to forget about working in the Wall Street, he was interested in the investment market. He even asked his professor to allow him to work pro bono, but Benjamin Graham declined. The young Warren returned to Nebraska and started working in his father’s brokerage to gain experience in business. He even held some classes in “investment principles” at the University of Nebraska. Interestingly, the participants of those classes were twice his age! The young Warren managed to improve his empirical knowledge by trial and error in those classes.
When Buffet turned 24, his professor, Benjamin Graham, changed his mind and recruited him at Graham-Newman Corp with a considerable salary. This fruitful partnership lasted for two years. After that, Graham who had turned 61 decided to retire.
After Graham’s retirement, Warren founded his own investment institute, the partners of which were the Buffets who deposited an initial investment of nearly one hundred thousand dollars. Gradually, the number of investors in Buffet Partnership reached seven, and Warren Buffet joined the US millionaire’s club at the age of 32 when his company was six years old.
Berkshire Hathaway was a company operating in the declining textile industry. Its foundation dates back to 1955 when several companies were merged. Having started to buy the shares of this company gradually since the early 60s, Warren Buffet took over Berkshire Hathaway in 1965. He then reduced the textile production rate to zero little by little and expanded the activities areas of the company instead. In 2019, Forbes introduced Berkshire Hathaway as the eighth largest company in the US. Currently, this company owns the shares of a considerable number of famous profitably companies. It consists of 90 subsidiaries, and Warren Buffet’s main part of 100-billion-dollar wealth comes from his ownership of major shares in Berkshire Hathaway.