By Jonathan Stempel
OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people are in Omaha, Nebraska, to attend the annual shareholder weekend for billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Buffett, 94, is expected to answer shareholder questions over four and a half hours at Berkshire’s annual meeting on Saturday.
Vice Chairman Greg Abel, 62, who is expected to succeed Buffett as chief executive, will join him. Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, 73, will join for two and a half hours.
The meeting will be broadcast on CNBC and livestreamed on cnbc.com.
Here are some facts about Buffett and Berkshire.
BUFFETT’S LIFE
*Personal life
Warren Edward Buffett was born on August 30, 1930, in Omaha. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Columbia Business School.
Buffett has been married to Astrid Menks since 2006. His first wife Susan Thompson Buffett died in 2004, and he had three children with her: Susan, Howard and Peter. Susan Buffett and Howard Buffett are Berkshire directors.
Buffett likes steaks and enjoys candies from See’s, which Berkshire owns. He estimates that one-fourth of his calories come from Coca-Cola, a longtime Berkshire investment.
*Net worth
$168.2 billion as of May 2, ranking fifth worldwide, according to Forbes. Elon Musk, the head of Tesla and adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, ranked first.
Buffett owned 14.4% of Berkshire and held a 30.4% voting stake in the company as of March 5.
*How Buffett took charge of Berkshire
In 1965, Buffett was a shareholder in Berkshire, then a struggling New England textile company. He agreed to sell back his shares for $11.50 each, but management provided a term sheet that showed $11.375. Buffett was angered, and decided to buy all the shares he could. He won control of Berkshire on May 10, 1965, and began building his conglomerate. Though the textile business closed in 1985, Buffett kept the Berkshire name.
*Philanthropy
Buffett has since 2006 donated about $43.3 billion to the Gates Foundation and $15.1 billion to four family charities. His three children will distribute his Berkshire holdings, which account for about 99.5% of Buffett’s wealth, after his death, and must decide unanimously on each commitment. Donations to the Gates Foundation will stop after Buffett dies.
*Home
Buffett has lived since 1958 in the same house on a well-trafficked Omaha street, where he primarily works. He paid $31,500 for it. Built in 1921, the five-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath, 6,500-square-foot home on 0.72 acres was assessed at $1,224,500 in 2025. Annual taxes are $20,457. (Source: Douglas County, Nebraska)
*Famous Buffett quote
“Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless.” – September 4, 1991 congressional testimony about Salomon Inc, where Buffett became interim chairman to restore order after a Treasury auction bidding scandal.
FACTS ABOUT BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY
*Leadership
Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer; Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, vice chairmen; Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, investment managers.
Abel and Jain have day-to-day oversight of Berkshire’s non-insurance and insurance units, respectively. Combs and Weschler handle some stock investments. Buffett handles major capital allocations and investments.
*Portfolio
Berkshire Hathaway owns 189 operating businesses and dozens of stocks.
*Major stock investments
Apple was Berkshire’s largest stock holding at the end of 2024, even though Berkshire sold 600 million shares during the year. Berkshire also has multi-billion dollar stakes in many other U.S. companies, and stakes close to 10% in Japan’s five largest trading houses.
*Financials
Berkshire Hathaway posted record operating profit for the third straight calendar year in 2024, helped by its insurance businesses.
*Stock price
Through May 2, Berkshire shares were up 18.9% this year while the Standard & Poor’s was down 3.3%, as new U.S. tariffs and recession worries rattled markets. The conglomerate had a market value of $1.14 trillion.
Between 1965 and 2024, Berkshire’s stock price posted a compounded annual gain of 19.9%. It outperformed the S&P, which rose 10.4% annually, including dividends (pre-tax).
* Some of Berkshire’s operating businesses
Alleghany, Benjamin Moore, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, BNSF, Borsheims Fine Jewelry, Brooks, Business Wire, Clayton Homes, Duracell, Forest River, Fruit of the Loom, Geico, General Re, HomeServices of America, IMC International Metalworking, International Dairy Queen, Jazwares, Johns Manville, Lubrizol, Marmon, McLane, National Indemnity, Nebraska Furniture Mart, NetJets, Oriental Trading, Pampered Chef, Pilot Travel Centers, Precision Castparts, See’s Candies, Shaw Industries
*Select acquisitions
See’s Candies, $25 million (1972); Geico, $2.3 billion (1996); Dairy Queen, $590 million (1998); General Re, $15.9 billion (1998); NetJets, $725 million (1998); Clayton Homes, $1.7 billion (2003); PacifiCorp, $5.1 billion (2006); Iscar, $6.1 billion (2006-2013); Marmon, $8.9 billion (2008-2014); Burlington Northern Santa Fe, $26.5 billion (2010); Lubrizol, $9 billion (2011); NV Energy, $5.6 billion (2013); H.J. Heinz, $12.1 billion (majority stake, 2013; now part of Kraft Heinz); Van Tuyl (now Berkshire Hathaway Automotive), $4.1 billion (2015); Precision Castparts, $32.1 billion (2016); Duracell, $2.9 billion (2016); Pilot Travel Centers, $13.6 billion (2017-2024); Alleghany, $11.5 billion (2022). (Sources: Barclays, Berkshire)
*Employees
Berkshire employs 392,396 people. Its main office has 27, including Buffett.
*Annual meeting attendance:
12 (1965), about 24 (1979), 1,000 (1986), 4,100 (1995), 13,000 (2000), 21,000 (2005), 42,000 (2015, Buffett’s 50th anniversary running Berkshire). (Sources: Omaha World-Herald, Berkshire, Reuters)
*Succession
Buffett has not publicly signaled any plans to retire. Abel is expected to become CEO when Buffett retires, cannot continue or dies. Combs, who has been Geico’s chief executive since 2020, and Weschler may succeed Buffett as chief investment officer, though Buffett said at Berkshire’s 2024 annual meeting that Abel could fill that role. Buffett’s eldest son, Howard, is expected to become non-executive chairman.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in Omaha, Nebraska; Editing by Deepa Babington and Stephen Coates)
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