Ever heard someone saying that 90% of the wealth of the world.jpg)
is in the hand of 10% of the population…or something like that?
Forbes.com reported that Warren Buffett has finally climbed the ladder to be the richest man in the world, overtaking Bill Gates, the record holder for last 13 years. Thanks to the surge in Berkshire Hathaway’s share price. According to the report, Warren Buffett’s wealth swell to US$62 billion. With that kind of wealth, can you imagine how many generations need not have to work? You do the math. The following is an excerpt of the report:
Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been perhaps as rich--or richer--than Buffett had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) at the beginning of February.
Microsoft shares fell 15% between Jan. 31, the day before the company announced its bid for the search engine giant, and Feb. 11, the day we locked in stock prices for the 2008 World's Billionaires list.
According to the report, Berkshire Hathaway already soared 25% between July 2007 and 11 Feb 2008. The stock price hit an all-time high of $150,000 a share in December 2007. Berkshire Hathaway shares closed at US$137,100 on 12 Feb 2008. The report also gave a short account of the legendary investment guru:
Buffett delivered newspapers as a boy. He filed his first tax return at age 13, claiming a $35 deduction for his bicycle. He moved on to study under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia University. Buffett began buying shares in textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1962 and purchased a controlling stake in 1965. He began buying insurance companies and astutely investing those companies' cash reserves.
Last but not least, the report also listed down Berkshire Hathaway’s stop holdings. If you look at those companies carefully, you will notice certain similarity, which I had mentioned many times in my sharing.
The following are Berkshire Hathaway's 10 largest publicly traded holdings. We do not include any private company holdings. (Source: Form 13-F, Dec 31, 2007, except Wells Fargo because they had an amended filing. Stock prices as of Feb 27, 2008.)
American Express - 12.8% of the company, worth $71.5 billion.
Coca-Cola - 8.6% of the company, worth $12 billion.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe - 18.3% of the company, worth $5.7 billion.
Johnson & Johnson - 2% of the company, worth $3.9 billion.
Kraft Foods - 8.6% of the company, worth $4.2 billion.
Moody's - 17.2% of the company, worth $2.0 billion.
Procter & Gamble - 3.4% of the company, worth $7.1 billion.
US Bancorp - 3.9% of the company, worth $2.3 billion.
Wells Fargo - 9.4% of the company, worth $9.9 billion.
Wesco Financial - 80.1% of the company, worth $2.2 billion.
.jpg)
is in the hand of 10% of the population…or something like that?Forbes.com reported that Warren Buffett has finally climbed the ladder to be the richest man in the world, overtaking Bill Gates, the record holder for last 13 years. Thanks to the surge in Berkshire Hathaway’s share price. According to the report, Warren Buffett’s wealth swell to US$62 billion. With that kind of wealth, can you imagine how many generations need not have to work? You do the math. The following is an excerpt of the report:
Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been perhaps as rich--or richer--than Buffett had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) at the beginning of February.
Microsoft shares fell 15% between Jan. 31, the day before the company announced its bid for the search engine giant, and Feb. 11, the day we locked in stock prices for the 2008 World's Billionaires list.
According to the report, Berkshire Hathaway already soared 25% between July 2007 and 11 Feb 2008. The stock price hit an all-time high of $150,000 a share in December 2007. Berkshire Hathaway shares closed at US$137,100 on 12 Feb 2008. The report also gave a short account of the legendary investment guru:
Buffett delivered newspapers as a boy. He filed his first tax return at age 13, claiming a $35 deduction for his bicycle. He moved on to study under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia University. Buffett began buying shares in textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1962 and purchased a controlling stake in 1965. He began buying insurance companies and astutely investing those companies' cash reserves.
Last but not least, the report also listed down Berkshire Hathaway’s stop holdings. If you look at those companies carefully, you will notice certain similarity, which I had mentioned many times in my sharing.
The following are Berkshire Hathaway's 10 largest publicly traded holdings. We do not include any private company holdings. (Source: Form 13-F, Dec 31, 2007, except Wells Fargo because they had an amended filing. Stock prices as of Feb 27, 2008.)
American Express - 12.8% of the company, worth $71.5 billion.
Coca-Cola - 8.6% of the company, worth $12 billion.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe - 18.3% of the company, worth $5.7 billion.
Johnson & Johnson - 2% of the company, worth $3.9 billion.
Kraft Foods - 8.6% of the company, worth $4.2 billion.
Moody's - 17.2% of the company, worth $2.0 billion.
Procter & Gamble - 3.4% of the company, worth $7.1 billion.
US Bancorp - 3.9% of the company, worth $2.3 billion.
Wells Fargo - 9.4% of the company, worth $9.9 billion.
Wesco Financial - 80.1% of the company, worth $2.2 billion.
