Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett. Biography of Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha

Warren Buffett - The Oracle of Omaha

Quite simply, Warren Buffett is the greatest investor who ever lived. The point can barely be argued. His performance over 5 decades has been exceeded by no one and he ranks as the second richest man in the world, behind only Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.

Besides just being unbelievably rich, Buffett has left his mark on investing in very real and dramatic terms. He is the greatest example of a value investor that currently can be found, and he extended the principles of his mentor, Benjamin Graham, who created the entire discipline of securities analysis with his seminal work, The Intelligent Investor. It was from Graham directly that a young Buffett learned the art and science of correctly valuing companies. Graham was an

original thinker and was a great influence on Buffett. Early in his career he was a by the book investor who always looked for deals on whatever stock he could find. He care much less about the performance of the company and was more interested in book value and hard tangible assets. He came to learn later that this thinking was somewhat short sited, and later he adapted.

In the 1960's he met Phil Graham who influenced and expanded his views on investment. Buffett became much more interested in the intangibles of companies such as their brand name and their leadership. He no longer looked at companies as merely numbers. With this increased understanding of companies, Buffett did some of his best deals, purchasing stock in such giants as Coca Cola, the Washington Post and Capital Cities.

Buffett was a champion of the "buy and hold" movement, preferring to keep stocks for the rest of his life as long as they performed. He never came to his decisions to buy quickly and only sells when he is positive that fundamental conditions have changed.

Any study of Warren Buffett promises to be a long one, but well worth the effort. His thought on finance and investments is enormous. He is one of the most quoted people of this generation. In his many years at the helm, he transformed Berkshire Hathaway from a textile mill into one of the most storied companies in American business history. With Berkshire Hathaway stock selling at close to $100,000 per share, you can get a very good idea of the type of wealth building Buffett has accomplished in his career.

Among the ideas Buffett has championed are Margin of Safety and Intrinsic value