Billionaire investor Warren Buffett last week announced that he will retire from Berkshire Hathaway by the end of this year, and named closed aide Greg Abel as the next CEO of the conglomerate. The news triggered a wave of praise and acknowledgement for Warren Buffett’s six decade long run at the helm, as many thanked the Oracle of Omaha for his wisdom, lessons and backing.
Amid this we take a look at his (and long time partner, late Charlie Munger’s) “bull run” with Berkshire, from gaining more than 55,00,000 per cent returns over 60 years (1964-2024), to building the group to $1.2 trillion, and expanding Class A shares to worth $167 billion.
- Berkshire’s most prominent customer facing brands include Dairy Queen, See’s Candies, Duracell, Geico, Fruit of the Loom, and Helzberg Diamonds.
- Warren Buffett gained fame and investor confidence for handpicking stocks (Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, etc.) that exploded and now account for 70 per cent of Berkshire’s $263 billion stock portfolio. He termed this as “one wonderful business can offset the many mediocre decisions that are inevitable”.
- The group also has cash reserves around a record $347.7 billion till Q1 end, besides holding 5 per cent of US Treasury bills in circulation.
- Till 2024, all Berkshire companies collective had 392,396 employees.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
