Last night’s close of Berkshire Hathaway shares at record highs has seen Warren Buffet become the world’s second richest person
The shares have soared 27% this year as the dozens of operating businesses the 84-year-old chairman bought over the past five decades churned out record profit.
Buffett biographer Andrew Kilpatrick said in an e-mail yesterday
The all-time closing high stock price today is due to a widening appreciation of what Berkshire really is, a fortress.
With about $60 billion in cash at the company he could make a whopper of an acquisition at any moment.
Berkshire’s shares have traded strongly since August after a rally that followed the release of the company’s annual report, in which Buffett wrote that the company’s actual worth has been rising faster than suggested by metrics such as book value. Since that milestone, the shares have climbed another 13% elevating Buffett’s fortune to $73.7 billion, $300 million more than Mexico’s Carlos Slim
Berkshire Hatthaway share price
Buffett trails only Bill Gates as the world’s wealthiest person who, if he had held onto all of his Berkshire stock which he began donating to charity in 2006, would have a fortune topping $110 billion.
Bloomberg has more here
The man’s had his critics and backstabbers over the years but you can’t knock his performance. How has Buffett been for you ? Made you a fortune ? Do let us know, and swap your Berkshire ups and downs here.
Warren Buffett singing all the way to the bank