Warren Buffett’s Indian connection, here’s all you need to know

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Warren Buffett, also known as the ‘Oracle of Omaha’, will hold the much anticipated Annual General Meeting of his firm Berkshire Hathaway virtually on May 1.

Buffet is looked upon by stock market enthusiasts as on of the most successful investors of all times and his AGM is seen as the business event of the year by many.

Here are some lesser known facts about Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway:

The journey

Born in Omaha, US, in 1930, Buffet developed an interest in the business world and started investing at an early age. He bought his first  stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at age 13.

In the initial days of his career, Buffett worked at his father’s brokerage firm. In 1956, he formed the Buffet Partnership. Seven family members and friends invested $105,000 in total, with Buffett investing $100 himself. By the end of the year, he was managing around $300,000.

Buffett started buying stocks in Berkshire Hathaway in 1962, when it was mainly run as a textiles company.  A few years later, in 1965, he was in control of Berkshire Hathaway. In 1970, Buffett named himself as the company’s chairman and wrote his first letter to the shareholders. These letters from Buffett have over time become famous and are now seen as a subject of study for many investors around the world.

Buffett’s net worth is $103.7 billion which makes him the sixth richest man worldwide.

In June 2006, Buffett announced his plans to donate over 99% of his entire wealth to charity. In 2010, Buffett and Bill Gates launched ‘The Giving Pledge campaign’ to encourage other wealthy individuals to pursue philanthropy. So far he has given more than $46 billion in charity.

Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway is one of the most coveted stocks and one of the biggest holding companies in the world.

In 1965, Buffett and his investment firm came in to purchase and take full control of the struggling textile company. The company today has holdings in  include other insurance companies as well as those in the financial, clothing, entertainment, food and beverage, utilities, furniture, household products, media, and materials and construction industries.

Berkshire later acquired several companies, including See’s Candy and GEICO. Berkshire managed to own a 7% share in Coca-Cola, which was worth over $1 billion. Berkshire has major stock investments in American Express, Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola and Kraft Heinz. Buffett has 16.2% stake as of March 3, 2021 in Berkshire Hathaway.

The market value of the firm is about $627 billion as of April 28, 2021.

Buffett’s India connection

Odisha-born Ajit Jain is Warren Buffett’s star executive at Berkshire Hathway. He handles several reinsurance businesses in the billion dollar company. He has been working with Berkshire for past three decades and has taken it to impregnable heights.

Buffet has previously described Jain, as one of the best minds in the world. While addressing the AGM in 2020, Buffett shared with the shareholders that he had written a letter to Jain’s father after he worked for him for a few years, saying, “If you’ve got another son like this, send him over from India because we’ll own the world'”.

Jain’s name has often propped up as Buffett’s potential successor.

Buffett, on several occasions, has openly praised Jain for his ability to handle critical operations with “capacity, speed and decisiveness”, and credited him for creating several billion dollar value for the Berkshire shareholders.

There are other hints too that Buffett has dropped before. Famously, in a letter to shareholders, Buffett once quipped that should he, his partner Charlie Munger and Jain be on a sinking boat, ‘and you can save only one of us — swim to Ajit’.