The legendary American investor was worth $ 100 billion on Thursday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. This puts him in the company of just five other men over that limit. And he is now the sixth richest person in the world, right behind the Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Buffett, 90, added almost $ 13 billion to his net worth this year, with an increase in shares in his industrial and insurance conglomerate. Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) increased by almost 15% in 2021, giving the company a market capitalization of more than $ 600 billion.
Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are famous for investing primarily in slow-growing “value” stocks – many of which have performed very well this year, as markets continue to recover from the crash caused by a pandemic a year ago. He recently revealed that Berkshire bought stakes in components from Dow, Chevron and Verizon, indicating a new interest in Big Oil, telecommunications and the media.
Chevron (CVX) increased 31% as oil prices recovered the ground lost during the first months of the pandemic. Verizon (VZ) it did not do so well – the stock fell nearly 3% this year – but it is still above the lows of March 2020.
Although Buffett has passed the $ 100 billion mark, he is still way behind the richest person in the world, Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos, who is worth $ 180 billion, according to Bloomberg. Bezos has been negotiating the title with Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who is now worth $ 173 billion in shares in his electric carmaker, has recovered from recent losses.
Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates is third on the list, with $ 138 billion, while Bernard Arnault, president of the luxury goods group LVMH (LVMHF), occupies the fourth position, with US $ 122 billion. Arnault is the richest non-American on the list. Zuckerberg is in fifth place, with a net worth of $ 101 billion.
Buffett donated billions of dollars to philanthropic causes and, in 2006, pledged to donate almost all of his fortune to charities.
– Paul R. La Monica contributed to this report.