Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is an American investor who developed Berkshire Hathaway into a diversified holding company. He became chairman emeritus and remained a director in September 2026.
Personality
Warren Buffett presents investing through plain explanations, familiar businesses, and a willingness to discuss his own mistakes. His long question-and-answer sessions with Charlie Munger made Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting an unusually public account of how the pair thought. CNBC's archive preserves those conversations alongside interviews. That public style sits beside a career built around reading companies closely and keeping an investment approach understandable to shareholders rather than making every decision sound like a technical secret.
Under pressure
Buffett's account of Berkshire's beginnings includes an admission that buying the textile company was a poor decision. He kept the failing textile operation for years while developing Berkshire into a holding company. Working with Munger also changed his approach: the emphasis moved from buying merely cheap securities toward owning strong businesses at reasonable prices. These documented revisions show how his investment practice developed through mistakes and collaboration, rather than through an uninterrupted series of correct calls.
The arc
Born in Omaha on August 30, 1930, Buffett bought his first shares as a child and delivered newspapers as a teenager. He studied at the University of Nebraska and Columbia, where Benjamin Graham shaped his approach to investing. He took control of Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 and expanded its holdings across insurance and other industries. Greg Abel became chief executive in 2026; Berkshire named Buffett chairman emeritus, with a continuing board seat, on September 18, 2026.
Legacy
Buffett's influence extends beyond the companies Berkshire owns. The shareholder meetings and published explanations gave other investors a lasting record of his methods, while his charitable commitments made philanthropy a central part of his public work. He and Bill Gates launched the Giving Pledge in 2010, and Buffett pledged to give away nearly all his fortune. His September 2026 shareholder letter emphasized Berkshire's culture and long-term owners as responsibilities that should continue through its leadership transition.
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