The Most Exceptional Capitalist: Warren Buffett

At 11 years old, Buffett bought his first stock–three shares of Cities Service preferred, for $38 a share. He sold at $40 a share, a decision he regretted when the stock rose to $202. The lessons he learned from that experience–and the principles of his guru, economist and investor Benjamin Graham–have stayed with him as he has grown his company, Berkshire Hathaway, into a $350 billion conglomerate. Buffett is the World’s third richest person, but for 30 years he has taken a relatively meager $100,000 salary, the smallest take-home earnings of any Fortune 500 CEO.

$69.3 BILLION

Buffett’s net worth

99%

Share of his wealth that he has pledged to give to charity

$653,000

Value of Buffett’s primary residence, a 6,570-sq.-ft. (610 sq m) home in Omaha

20,310

Miles (32,690 km) on the 2006 Cadillac that he auctioned in February–the result of a 3-mile (4.8 km) round-trip commute

6

Newspapers on his daily reading list, spanning local and national outlets

180

Seconds Buffett says he needs to decide if an investment is worth pursuing

1

Total number of emails ever written

1.04 MILLION

Twitter followers

7

Tweets sent

720

Calories consumed daily from regular and Cherry Coke