Warren Buffett Net Worth

What is Warren Buffett's net worth?

Warren Buffett is an American investor and philanthropist who has a net worth of $170 billion. Warren Buffett is widely regarded as the greatest investor of all time. Over a career spanning more than 70 years, he transformed a failing New England textile company—Berkshire Hathaway—into a $1.1 trillion conglomerate and one of the most successful investment vehicles in history. Since taking control of Berkshire in 1965, Buffett has generated a compound annual return of 20.1%, more than double the S&P 500's 10.2% annual return over the same period. That performance means $1,000 invested in Berkshire in 1965 would be worth over $45 million today, compared to about $300,000 if placed in the S&P 500.

Buffett's strategy has long emphasized patience, value, and simplicity. He favors businesses with durable competitive advantages and competent leadership, and he famously avoids technology stocks—though he eventually made Apple Berkshire's largest holding. Under his leadership, Berkshire has acquired or taken major stakes in companies like Coca-Cola, American Express, Geico, BNSF Railway, and Apple, and now holds large positions in Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, and Bank of America.

Despite his wealth, Buffett is famously frugal. He still lives in the same Omaha home he bought in 1958 and pays himself a modest annual salary. He has pledged to give away 99% of his fortune, and has already donated over $60 billion—mostly in Berkshire Hathaway stock—to charitable foundations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Warren's Net Worth Without The Donations

Warren Buffett's current net worth places him among the richest people alive, but it could have been far greater. If Warren never donated a dollar to charity, his fortune today would likely be in the range of $340 to $350 billion. That hypothetical figure would make him the second-richest person in modern history, trailing only Musk's brief 2024 peak of $486 billion, the largest fortune ever recorded.

The scale of this "what if" becomes even more striking when you consider that in 2006, Buffett owned 31% of Berkshire Hathaway's equity. After nearly two decades of steadily donating shares—mostly to the Gates Foundation and his family's foundations—his stake has shrunk to just 14%. Because Berkshire's stock has surged in value, those donated shares would now be worth far more had he kept them. In essence, Buffett gave away not just billions, but the chance to secure a permanent place at the very top of the wealth rankings.

Had he kept his full stake, Buffett would have surpassed John D. Rockefeller, whose peak wealth is estimated at around $340 billion in today's dollars. Instead, he chose legacy over legend—and rewrote the rules of billionaire philanthropy in the process.

(Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Fortune/Time Inc)

Early Life

Warren Buffett was born on August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the second of three children and the only son of Leila and Congressman Howard Buffett. Buffett began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School.

Buffett developed his interest in business and investing at a young age. When he was 7, he was inspired by a book he borrowed from the library called "One Thousand Ways to Make $1000."

Buffett started making his mark and his fortune when he was a pre-teen. When he was ten years old, he had lunch with someone from the New York Stock Exchange and began setting his goals for his entire life. After that lunch, young Buffett knew that he wanted his life to revolve around money. A year later, when he was 11 years old, he bought his first stock. He had a paper route and used the money from that to buy some Oklahoma farmland. By the time he was a sophomore in high school, he was running a successful pinball machine business and had a net worth of roughly $6,000 – that's equivalent to $60,000 today.

In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress. After moving with his family to Washington, D.C., Warren attended Alice Deal Junior High School and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947. His senior yearbook picture reads:

"likes math; a future stockbroker."

College

In 1947, Buffett enrolled at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Warren studied there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. After two years, Warren stopped seeing a purpose for attending. He already knew exactly what he wanted to do:

• a) Live in Omaha
• b) Invest in stocks

His parents stepped in and forced him to ship back to Pennsylvania. But Warren's love of his hometown would prevail, and after two years, he transferred to the University of Nebraska to finish his bachelor's degree. He graduated at the age of 19 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. He then enrolled at Columbia Business School to study under his idols, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd. He earned his Master of Science in economics in 1951.

Buffett Partnership Ltd

After graduating from Columbia, he went to work as an investment salesman for his family's company, Buffett-Falk & Co. He also taught a course on "Investment Principles" at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and purchased a gas station. The gas station failed, but his business acumen caught the attention of Benjamin Graham, a well-respected businessman and investor and one of Buffet's former professors. Buffett left Buffet-Falk & Co. to work as a securities analyst for the Graham-Newman Corp. His starting salary was $12,000 a year (approximately $106,000 inflation-adjusted).

While Buffett learned a great deal during his four years of working with Graham, he also realized he was more willing to take investment risks than his boss. When Graham retired and shuttered the business, Buffett took the nearly $174,000 (approx. $1.47 million today) he had saved while working for Graham-Newman and started Buffett Partnership Ltd.

Over the course of the next three years, he grew his business from three partnerships to six. That number almost doubled over the course of the next two years, and by 1962, he was a millionaire.

Geico Investment

In April 1952, Buffett made his first big bet on what was then a struggling and obscure insurance company called Government Employees Insurance Company. Better known today as GEICO. The company was not a bargain—it was trading above the value of its assets. Buffett analyzed the business and saw how fast it was growing. He felt confident that he'd be able to predict what the insurance company would be worth in a few years. He took three-quarters of the money he'd patiently and meticulously acquired up to that point and took over GEICO. Today, Berkshire owns 100% of Geico.

Berkshire Hathaway

By 1960, Buffett had made money so rapidly and impressively that his name was being whispered between those in the know like a secret. He was already gaining a reputation for being a wizard with money. In 1962, Warren began buying shares in textile manufacturer Berkshire Hathaway at $7.60 per share. In 1965, Buffett began purchasing Berkshire aggressively, paying $14.86 per share while the company had working capital of $19 per share. By 1970, he owned the majority of the company and appointed himself Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a position he holds to this day.

Through Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett began an aggressive series of investments, takeovers, and restructuring moves that saw his assets increase exponentially. He also solidified his reputation as an investor to watch and follow. It seemed that everything he touched turned to gold. He had a knack for purchasing stock in wildly undervalued companies and riding the increase in their fortunes to ever-larger profits.

By the early 1980s, Warren Buffett's net worth worth $620 million. That's the same as around $2 billion today. That wealth and success, seemingly out of nowhere, earned Warren the nickname the "Oracle of Omaha."

By 1990, he was a billionaire, with shares of his company, Berkshire Hathaway, worth $7,175 each.

Warren Buffett is famous for investing in products he actually uses. For example, he owns Fruit of the Loom because he enjoys their shirts and underwear.

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Personal Life

In 1949, Buffett had a crush on a young woman named Susan Thompson, whose boyfriend had a ukulele. In an attempt to compete, he bought his own ukulele and has been playing it ever since. Buffett and Thompson married in 1952. They had three children: Susie, Howard, and Peter. The couple began living separately in 1977 when Susan moved to San Francisco to pursue a singing career but remained married until her death in July 2004.

In 2006, on his 76th birthday, Buffett married his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, who was then 60 years old—she had lived with him since his wife moved to San Francisco. In fact, Susan arranged for the two to meet before she left Omaha. All three were close, and Christmas cards to friends were signed: "Warren, Susie, and Astrid."

He is a dedicated, lifelong follower of University of Nebraska football and attends as many games as his schedule permits.

Warren Buffet doesn't have a computer on his desk. He also uses a flip phone rather than an iPhone or Android. He's also only sent one email in his entire life–to Microsoft's Jeff Raikes.

Buffett is a legendarily unhealthy eater and consumes a ton of Coca-Cola every single day. He has said: "If I eat 2,700 calories a day, a quarter of that is Coca-Cola. I drink at least five 12-ounce servings. I do it every day." Buffett has also been known to eat ice cream for breakfast.

In 2010, together with Bill and Melinda Gates, he formed The Giving Pledge, which asks the world's wealthiest people to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. To date, Buffett has donated over $60 billion to charities.

Warren Buffett's Net Worth Over Time

• Age 21: Net worth of $20,000 (≈ $199,000 today)
• Age 30: Reached $1 million (≈ $8.1 million today)
• Age 35: Net worth grew to $7 million (≈ $53.3 million today)
• Age 39: Net worth $25 million
• Age 47: Net worth $67 million
• Age 56: First time becoming a billionaire with a net worth of $1.4 billion
• Age 66: Net worth reached $17 billion
• Age 72: Net worth more than $36 billion
• 2016: Added another $12 billion in a single year
• 2017: Crossed $80 billion for the first time, he was 87 at the time
• 2025: Net worth stands at $170 billion

Note that it took Warren 87 years to reach $80 billion, then just EIGHT years to earn another $80 billion… with an extra $10 billion on top. That's the power of compounding very large numbers.

Philanthropy

Warren Buffett is not only one of the richest people in history—he's also one of the most generous. Since 2006, he has donated over $60 billion, primarily through annual gifts of Berkshire Hathaway stock. Roughly 75% of his donations have gone to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with the rest distributed among the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (named for his late wife) and the foundations run by his three children.

Buffett's philanthropic outlook took a major turn after learning about Chuck Feeney, the reclusive billionaire founder of Duty Free Shoppers, who quietly gave away his entire multibillion-dollar fortune while he was still alive. Inspired by Feeney's philosophy of "giving while living," Buffett joined forces with Bill Gates in 2010 to co-found The Giving Pledge—an open invitation for billionaires to commit at least 50% of their wealth to philanthropy. Buffett, true to form, pledged 99%.

Each year, Buffett gives away about 5% of his remaining pledged shares. His approach is refreshingly practical: he encourages foundations to spend the money, not hoard it in endowments. In Buffett's view, wealth is most valuable when it's improving lives, not sitting idle in a bank account.

Real Estate

In 1958, Warren and Susan Buffett bought a lovely but modest five-bedroom house in Omaha for $31,500 (the same as around $330,000 today). He still lives in this same house to this day. It is now worth around $1.2 million.

At one point, Warren and his late first wife, Susan, owned a home in Laguna Beach, California, which was reportedly used as a family retreat. That home was eventually sold by the family for around $7 million in 2018.

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