Buffett, Warren

(born Aug. 30, 1930, Omaha, Neb., U.S.) U.S. businessman and investor. He attended the University of Nebraska (B.S., 1950) and Columbia University (M.S., 1951), where he was influenced by professor Benjamin Graham's approach toward value investing—that is, purchasing shares of companies whose stocks are priced below their intrinsic value. Returning to his native Omaha, he turned $105,000 of initial investment in his Buffett Partnership (1956–69) into $105 million by the time of its dissolution. He then began investing in businesses, bought under the umbrella of the textile manufacturer Berkshire Hathaway. He is said to be the first person to have made $1 billion in the stock market. His financial reports are read eagerly by stock-market novices and experts alike for their pithy wisdom.

Buffett, Warren (1930– ) investment entrepreneur/executive; born in Omaha, Nebr. A stockbroker's son, educated at the University of Nebraska and Columbia University, he formed his own firm, Buffett Partnership, Ltd., in his hometown in 1956. His investment successes, particularly in buying undervalued companies whose stocks shortly began to rise, made him extremely rich and gained him the sobriquet, "oracle of Omaha." He helped rescue Salomon Brothers from corporate raiders in 1987, and took charge of the New York City house in 1992 in the wake of an insider trading scandal.