1930 – Warren Edward Buffett is born in Omaha, Nebraska, to broker-turned-congressman Howard Homan Buffett and homemaker Leila Stahl Buffett.
1941 – At eleven he snaps up three Cities Service preferred shares, the first of many purchases later celebrated as classic Warren Buffett stocks.
1943 – Tells neighbours he’ll be a millionaire by thirty-five and starts selling chewing gum, Coca-Cola and magazines door-to-door.
1945 – At fifteen teams with classmate Don Danly to place used pinball machines in barbershops, unloading the venture a year later for $1 200—an early entry on the list of Warren Buffett notable achievements.
1958 – Buys a modest stucco home on Farnam Street for $31 500; journalists still point to the bungalow as the quintessential Warren Buffett house.
Education
1947 – Enters Wharton School, then decides after two years the price outstrips the value and withdraws.
1950 – Finishes a B.S. in Business Administration at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln at lightning speed, a textbook case of Warren Buffett education thrift.
1951 – Completes an M.S. in Economics at Columbia Business School under Benjamin Graham, absorbing ideas later distilled in many Warren Buffett books.
1952 – Takes a Dale Carnegie course in public speaking, later pointing to that diploma—not PowerPoint—for his shareholder-meeting sway.
Career & Business
1954 – Joins Graham-Newman as a securities analyst on a $12 000 salary.
1956 – Forms Buffett Partnership Ltd. in Omaha with $105 000 from seven partners, beating the Dow by double digits year after year.
1965 – Seizes the reins at Berkshire, turning it into the flagship Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway—forever shorthand for the core Warren Buffett company.
1967 – Acquires National Indemnity, capturing the insurance float that bankrolls future deals.
1973 – Invests $10.6 million for 12 % of The Washington Post Co., a masterclass in capital allocation.
1979 – Berkshire A-shares hit $775; personal fortune tops $620 million, landing him on the inaugural Forbes 400.
1988 – Pours $1 billion into Coca-Cola, creating a cornerstone among enduring Warren Buffett stocks.
1991 – Steers Salomon Brothers through a Treasury-auction scandal as interim chairman.
1998 – Pays $22 billion for General Re; derivative losses later brand the buy one of the highest-profile Warren Buffett notable failures.
2006 – Announces he will donate most Berkshire shares to the Gates Foundation, popularising “giving while living.”
2008 – Injects $5 billion into Goldman Sachs preferreds during the credit crunch, reaping $3.7 billion by 2013.
2011 – Buys Lubrizol for $9 billion, expanding the chemicals footprint.
2016 – Reveals a 9.8 % stake in Apple; Warren Buffett Apple stock soon becomes Berkshire’s largest position.
2020 – Unloads $4 billion in airline holdings amid COVID-19, later calling aviation “permanently changed,” another mark in the ledger of Warren Buffett notable failures.
2021 – Trims roughly six percent of Apple—headlines scream “Warren Buffett sells Apple stock”—yet the holding stays dominant.
2022 – Lifts Berkshire’s economic stake in Occidental Petroleum above twenty percent through shares and warrants.
2023 – Buys and quickly exits Taiwan Semiconductor over geopolitical worries.
2024 – Delivers a record $42 billion in operating profit and publicly designates Greg Abel successor, setting succession at Warren Buffett age ninety-four.
2025 – Commits $10 billion to a data-center joint venture, nudging Berkshire toward AI infrastructure and adding a fresh Warren Buffett notable achievement.
Politics
1964 – Knocks on doors for his father’s final congressional race as a Republican.
2006 – Hosts a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s Senate bid, signalling a blue tilt.
2011 – Pens the “Buffett Rule” op-ed, urging higher taxes on the ultra-rich.
2012 – Endorses Barack Obama for a second term.
2020 – Backs Joe Biden and blasts tariff wars that threaten Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway manufacturers.
2023 – Presses the Senate Finance Committee for equal tax treatment of overseas and domestic earnings.
Wealth
1982 – Net worth passes $250 million as Berkshire A-shares clear $1 000.
1995 – Personal fortune breaks $20 billion, fueled by Coke, GEICO and media bets.
2008 – Tops the Forbes global list at $62 billion, briefly unseating Bill Gates.
2020 – Despite pandemic swings Warren Buffett net worth stays north of $80 billion.
2023 – Lifetime giving exceeds $50 billion while personal wealth sits near $118 billion and Berkshire’s equity book tops $350 billion.
2025 – Bloomberg pegs Buffett Warren at $127 billion—about ninety-nine percent still parked in Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway stock.
Charity & Philanthropy
1964 – Launches a literacy fund at The Omaha Sun—his first formal gift.
1977 – Hands $250 000 in Berkshire stock to the Woodrow Wilson Center, arguing capital should underwrite ideas.
1981 – Endows a Columbia finance chair echoing his own Warren Buffett education roots.
1987 – Gives $12 million to Henry Doorly Zoo for a gorilla habitat, quipping that the apes “out-allocate some investors.”
1999 – Pledges $50 million to Nebraska Medical Center’s cancer programme after Susan’s diagnosis.
2006 – Transfers 10 million Berkshire B shares—then $37 billion—to the Gates Foundation, a milestone Warren Buffett notable achievement in philanthropy.
2010 – Co-founds the Giving Pledge with Bill Gates, challenging billionaires to part with half their fortunes.
2017 – Cumulative gifts exceed $27 billion; he tells Forbes his “satisfaction ledger is full.”
2020 – Sends $2.9 billion in Berkshire stock to five family funds even as market turmoil clips Warren Buffett net worth.
2022 – Lifetime giving tops $50 billion, the largest single-donor flow ever recorded.
2025 – Liquidates another 1.5 million B-shares for climate-adaptation grants, pushing total distributed value near $55 billion.
Family & Personal Life
1930 – Raised above his father’s brokerage, young Buffett devours Security Analysis at eleven.
1951 – Marries Susan Thompson; they rent a simple flat near the original Warren Buffett house.
1953 – Daughter Susan Alice arrives, followed by sons Howard Graham in 1954 and Peter Andrew in 1958.
1971 – Begins a relationship with family friend Astrid Menks—later chronicled in several Warren Buffett books.
2004 – Susan dies of cancer; Buffett credits her for nudging him toward stage and charity.
2006 – Marries Astrid on his seventy-sixth birthday, revealing more of the private man behind the spreadsheets.
2014 – Takes up online bridge with Bill Gates; friends claim the game keeps Warren Buffett age “mentally twenty-one.”
2021 – Still sleeps in the 1958 Omaha bungalow, tax-valued near $1 million, insisting more space would not improve his eight-hour rest.
2025 – At ninety-four he steers a 2014 Cadillac XTS to Burger King, proving routine beats flash for the Oracle of Omaha.
Scandals
1962 – SEC reviews a “letter” tactic in the Sanborn Map takeover; no charges, but disclosure gets sharper.
1991 – Guides Salomon through a bond-auction scandal, calling misconduct “inexcusable”—a defining Warren Buffett notable failure.
2000 – Dexter Shoe, bought entirely with Berkshire stock, later costs $3.5 billion—his admitted worst deal.
2011 – David Sokol exits amid Lubrizol insider-trading claims; Buffett says his “radar failed.”
2014 – Tesco stake shrinks by half after accounting woes; Berkshire logs a $444 million loss.
2020 – Airline fire-sale at pandemic lows sparks jabs that he might dump Apple next; he calls the move “fog-of-war judgement.”
2023 – Faces ESG critics over Chevron and Occidental; counters that fossil “bridge fuels” support the grid’s transition.
Honors & Recognition
1965 – Tagged “Young Money Wizard of Omaha” by The Wall Street Journal.
1988 – Columbia gives him the Alexander Hamilton Medal, its top alumni honour.
1998 – Fortune dubs him “Most Admired Investor of the 20th Century.”
2003 – Picks up an honorary doctorate from Nebraska, burnishing hometown pride in Warren Buffett education.
2008 – Lands as Time Person of the Year runner-up for calming markets.
2010 – Enters the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for business and philanthropy.
2011 – Accepts the Presidential Medal of Freedom for pairing capitalism with conscience.
2017 – Fronts Forbes “100 Greatest Living Business Minds,” a salute to Warren Buffett notable achievements.
2024 – Harvard Business Review ranks him No. 2 for lifetime CEO performance, citing 3 600 000 % total return at Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway.
Awards
1977 – Wins Columbia’s Graham-Doddsville Prize for stellar security analysis.
1992 – Collects the Horatio Alger Award for perseverance and integrity.
2001 – Receives Global Finance’s Lifetime Achievement in Portfolio Management.
2006 – Earns the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship for his early mega-pledges.
2013 – Nabs the Heinz Award for steering American business toward the long view.
2018 – Granted IEEE Honorary Membership for foresighted bets in precision machinery.
2022 – Takes the Eccles Prize for Ethical Finance; judges praise his letters—regarded as informal Warren Buffett books.
2025 – Accepts the World Economic Forum Crystal Award for a half-century of record compounding, candid commentary, and a portfolio of Warren Buffett stocks that outpaced the S&P by twenty points a year.