Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway is optimistic the current market chaos will create buying opportunities for him and Berkshire Hathaway.
- In an with CNBC's Becky Quick, Buffett said, "You get more excited when there's a lot going on, you can't help it. And frankly, it will probably present more opportunity to us because when dislocations occur, things get more mis-priced and that sort of thing..."
- "So it can be a time of opportunity. It won't be for sure, but generally speaking, when there's a certain amount of chaos in certain sections, the fallout, and it's unpredictable where the fallout will be, but the fallout sometimes offers some real opportunities." - Buffett said
Warren Buffett
Age: 76
Fortune: self made
Source: Berkshire Hathaway
Net Worth: $52.0 billion
Country Of Citizenship: United States
Residence: Omaha, Nebraska , United States, North America
Industry: Investments
Marital Status: married, 3 children
Education: University of Nebraska Lincoln, Bachelor of Arts / Science Columbia University, Master of Science
Nation's most beloved investor married longtime girlfriend Astrid Menks on his 76th birthday last August. Had long promised to give away his fortune posthumously. Then last June announced he had irrevocably earmarked the majority of his Berkshire Hathaway shares to charity. At the time the gift was worth $31 billion; believed to be the largest gift in history, it will go mostly to the Gates Foundation. Son of Nebraska politician delivered newspapers as a boy.
Filed first tax return at age 13; claimed $35 deduction for bicycle. Studied under value-investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia, learned to hunt for undervalued stocks. Bought control of textile firm Berkshire Hathaway 1965.
Today holding company has insurance (Geico, General Re), apparel (Fruit of the Loom), utilities (MidAmerican Energy), home furnishings (R.C. Willey). Also has noncontrolling stakes in Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo. Despite gifts, the Oracle of Omaha is $10 billion richer than last year: Berkshire stock up 22% in past 12 months.