Warren Buffett, the investor behind Berkshire Hathaway, is ranked No. 9 on the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list with a net worth of $149 billion. Greg Abel became Berkshire’s chief executive on January 1, 2026.
Warren Edward Buffett was born on August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska, the second of three children and the only son of Howard Buffett, who later served in the US Congress, and Leila Stahl Buffett.
Net Worth and Rank
- Forbes 2026 list: No. 9, with $149 billion
- Salary: his base salary at Berkshire has been about $100,000, small by the standards of comparable companies, according to Wikipedia
Education and Early Career
Buffett entered the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1947, then transferred to the University of Nebraska, graduating at 20. He went on to Columbia Business School and learned value investing from Benjamin Graham. In 1954 he took a job at Graham’s partnership at $12,000 a year and in 1956 created Buffett Partnership Ltd. By 1962 he was a millionaire.
Berkshire Hathaway
- 1970: he became chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, a textile company turned diversified holding company
- 1978: Charlie Munger joined as vice-chairman
- Succession: on May 3, 2025 Buffett asked the board to appoint Greg Abel as CEO, and the company announced Abel’s appointment effective January 1, 2026. Wikipedia now describes Buffett as chairman emeritus and former CEO
Giving Away His Fortune
- Giving Pledge: on December 9, 2010, Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg signed the pledge, promising to give away at least half their wealth
- Pledge to give 99%: Buffett has pledged to give away 99% of his fortune; his giving has mainly gone to the Gates Foundation
- Gates Foundation: he resigned as a trustee on June 23, 2021
Why It Matters
Buffett’s long record and plain-spoken annual letters made him one of the most followed investors in the world, and the handover to Abel is closely watched by Berkshire shareholders.
Net worth figures change daily with share prices. Rankings here follow the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, with wealth measured on March 1, 2026.
Image: Warren Buffett during a 2010 visit to Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. Photo: Aaron Friedman / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
