Year: 2025

After a career spanning more than eight decades, it turns out that Warren Buffett had one last trick up his sleeve. The veteran investor shocked his audience when he announced his retirement from Berkshire Hathaway at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in May, bringing an end to a 60-year spell at the helm of the trillion-dollar conglomerate. This was news to the vast majority of the 40,000-strong crowd, including vice-chairman Greg Abel, who will succeed Buffett as CEO when he steps down at the end of the year.

At the age of 94, Buffett’s retirement should perhaps come as no surprise. But it is hard to imagine an investment landscape without the financier at the very forefront. For more than half a century, Buffett has been considered one of the world’s leading business voices, with his investment acumen earning him the nickname the ‘Oracle of Omaha.’ Under Buffett’s shrewd leadership, Berkshire Hathaway has been transformed from a failing textile manufacturer into a $1.1trn conglomerate, boasting dozens of businesses in insurance, rail transportation, retail and more. The firm also holds significant stakes in global brands such as Apple, Coca-Cola, Domino’s and American Express, making it one of the most influential companies in the world.

Significantly, Buffett built Berkshire Hathaway into an industry titan by following a simple approach to investing. Buffett’s preferred method – known as value investing – prioritises buying quality companies and holding them for the long term. Buffett adopted this approach early in his career, by searching for companies that were underperforming relative to their potential. It didn’t take long for this astute strategy to pay off, propelling Buffett and Berkshire to immense wealth and influence. In an age when investors are increasingly short-term in their thinking, there may still be much to be learnt from Buffett’s patient approach.

Billionaire beginnings
“Warren Buffett represents everything that is good about American capitalism and America itself,” said Jamie Dimon, the Chief Executive of JPMorgan Chase, after hearing of the investor’s retirement announcement. In many ways, Buffett has become synonymous with the American dream and a particular US brand of capitalism. Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1930, Buffett has often spoken of his luck at winning “the ovarian lottery” by being born in the US and coming of age when America was enjoying a post-war economic boom. Growing up far from the frenzy of Wall Street, Buffett nevertheless developed an interest in business and investing from an early age.

At just seven years old, Buffett stumbled upon a book at the Omaha Public Library that would change the course of his life. After reading Frances Minaker’s One Thousand Ways to Make $1000, Buffett’s fascination with the world of finance started to grow. Inspired by the book’s practical advice on ways to make money, Buffett threw himself into several different business ventures, selling packs of chewing gum to his neighbours and collecting empty Coca-Cola bottles to trade for cash at local stores. By the age of 11, Buffet claims to have read every book at his local library on the subject of investing, arming himself with the right knowledge to make his very first stock purchase: $114.75 for three shares in natural gas company Cities Service.

“I had become a capitalist, and it felt good,” Buffett later reflected on his first foray into the stock market. While this first purchase did not propel Buffett to instant wealth, it taught the young investor many crucial lessons – most importantly, the value of patience and long-term thinking.

After graduating from high school, Buffett was eager to focus on his business ventures, but his parents encouraged him to attend university. This proved to be useful advice, as Buffett was ultimately able to study under the influential economist Benjamin Graham at Columbia Business School. Graham, known to many as the ‘father of value investing,’ had a profound influence on Buffett as a young man, with his focus on minimising risk and recognising intrinsic value guiding many of Buffett’s decisions in the first decades of his storied career. In 1954, Buffett joined Graham’s own investment firm, moving his family to New York as he prepared for a new life working with his mentor. This was short-lived, however, as the following year, Graham told Buffett of his plans to retire. For a home-sick Buffett, this news gave him the impetus he needed to return to Omaha and set up his own investment partnership, aged just 25.

“Although I had no idea, age 25 was a turning point,” Buffett later told Forbes magazine. “I was changing my life, setting up something that would turn into a fairly good-size partnership called Berkshire Hathaway. I wasn’t scared. I was doing something I liked, and I am still doing it.”

In the early 1960s, Buffett’s partnership began strategically buying shares in the struggling textile company Berkshire Hathaway. By 1965, Buffett’s aggressive investment strategy allowed him to take control of the firm and begin shifting Berkshire’s business strategy away from textile manufacturing and towards investments and acquisitions. The rest, as they say, is history.

Foundations for success
“Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair prices,” Buffett famously advised in his 2015 shareholder letter, attributing this maxim to long-time friend and business partner, Charlie Munger. This simple approach to investing has transformed Berkshire Hathaway into a powerhouse holding company, with 189 operating businesses to its name. From its billion-dollar railroads to its bevy of fast-food companies, Berkshire’s investments have always been focused on quality brands and long-termism.

“In fact, when we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favourite holding period is forever,” Buffett said in his 1988 letter to his shareholders. True to his word, Buffett remains loyal to the brands that he favours. He has never sold a share in Coca-Cola since first investing in the company in 1988 and is said to drink five cans of the fizzy beverage every day. Given that Berkshire Hathaway is set to receive $816m in dividends from the brand in 2025, this is a longstanding relationship that continues to pay off.

Buffett’s connection to Coca-Cola is emblematic of another of his investment principles – buying American. Throughout his investment career, Buffet has been a staunch supporter of US businesses, even in the most turbulent economic circumstances. In 2008, with the global economy still reeling from the financial crash, Buffett wrote an op-ed for The New York Times, in which he encouraged readers to follow his lead and ‘buy American.’

“Bad news is an investor’s best friend,” he wrote. “It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price.” In the years since the financial crash, Buffett’s pro-American strategy hasn’t changed, with Berkshire Hathaway continuing to snap up shares in well-established US firms such as Domino’s Pizza and beverage company Constellation Brands. By focusing on quality brands with consistent cash flows, Buffett has been able to steer Berkshire Hathaway through a host of economic booms and busts, delivering market-beating returns for shareholders over the last six decades.

This patient, long-term approach has also allowed Buffett to avoid speculative bubbles, famously staying away from dot-com stocks in the late 1990s, which then crashed in the year 2000. Resisting the temptation of rapid buying and selling has served Buffett incredibly well, but that’s not to say his career has been entirely without missteps.

Learning hard lessons
Even the very best investors can make mistakes – a fact that Buffett himself is willing to admit. Seeking to break the industry ‘taboo’ around getting things wrong, Buffett penned a candid letter to Berkshire shareholders earlier this year, detailing some of the missteps he has made while leading the company, and the lessons he has learned. “Problems cannot be wished away,” he wrote. “They require action, however uncomfortable that may be.”

It may be this shift in mindset that saw Buffett reverse his longstanding position on tech investments. Having passed up early opportunities to invest in technology giants such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, Buffett missed out on significant financial windfalls as these companies became household names.

After watching the dot-com bubble burst, avoiding tech stocks may have seemed like a sensible precaution in the early 2000s, but Buffett’s hesitancy ended up costing him. Not one to take failure lying down, Buffett has been beefing up Berkshire Hathaway’s tech investments over the past decade. The conglomerate now owns 300 million shares in Apple – worth a staggering $60bn – and has been raising its stake in Amazon since first snapping up shares in the e-commerce giant in 2019.

While Buffett may have softened his stance when it comes to tech investments, many of the veteran investor’s core principles continue to shine through in his relationship with both Amazon and Apple. Both firms boast powerful brand names, and can be considered consumer companies, rather than strictly tech.

In the fast-paced and ever-changing tech world, Amazon and Apple have demonstrated durable success, enjoying customer loyalty and steady profits which don’t necessarily depend on constant innovation. For someone who values long-term stability, the two firms represent consistency and dependability in a sector defined by constant change. Despite some early missed opportunities in the tech world, Berkshire Hathaway’s $1.1trn valuation suggests that the financial impact of these mistakes is minimal. For Buffett, the more serious career challenges may well have been the threats to his reputation over the years.

In 1991, Buffett’s leadership was tested when investment bank Salomon Brothers was embroiled in a bond trading scandal. As a major shareholder in the firm, Buffett was forced to bail out Salomon in order to protect his investment, even stepping up to act as the bank’s chairman until the crisis passed. In his 1991 testimony to Congress during the scandal, Buffett warned Salomon employees: “lose money for the firm and I will be understanding, lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless.”

But this wasn’t Buffett’s last brush with Wall Street controversy. During the early, panicked days of the 2008 global financial crash, Berkshire Hathaway invested $5bn in Goldman Sachs, in an effort to help the bank bolster its balance sheet. While Buffett saw the investment as a necessary shot in the arm for the country’s financial sector, critics chided him for defending Goldman, which had been one of the largest players in the subprime mortgage market.

Many accused the firm of profiting from an economic crisis that it helped to create, and Buffett’s association with the firm may have tarnished his reputation among an outraged public. For someone as acutely aware of their own position as Warren Buffett, the experience may have served to re-emphasise the importance of integrity and ethical conduct.

A lasting legacy
While Buffett’s influence over the investment landscape is undeniable, the legendary financier has also had a profound impact on the world outside of business, too. As one of the world’s leading philanthropists, Buffett has donated over $56bn to charitable causes over the course of his lifetime, with plans to give away 99.5 percent of his remaining wealth when he dies. Along with his own charitable donations, Buffett also seeks to inspire other super-rich individuals to join his philanthropic efforts.

Buffett represents everything that is good about American capitalism and America itself

In 2010, he co-founded the Giving Pledge with long-time friend Bill Gates – a campaign which encourages wealthy individuals to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropic causes during their lifetime or in their will. In the 15 years since its launch, the campaign has gathered 245 pledgers – a healthy number, but fewer than its founders may have hoped for. In fact, in recent years, support for the pledge appears to be waning, even as the number of billionaires continues to grow. The 2025 edition of the Forbes annual rich list features a record-breaking 3,028 billionaires – and the 245 Giving Pledge members account for just eight percent of this ultra-wealthy group.

As the world’s sixth-richest man, Buffett should be only too aware of the growing issue of income inequality. Billionaire wealth has surged since the 1990s, with poverty charity Oxfam predicting that at least five people will become trillionaires within the next decade. Meanwhile, the number of people living under the World Bank poverty line has barely changed over the same time period, accounting for 44 percent of the world’s population. Last year, the wealth of the world’s 10 richest men jumped by an average of almost $100m a day, making the gap between rich and poor grow ever wider.

Against this troubling backdrop, Buffett has continued to insist that the super-rich have a responsibility to give back to society. Alongside his philanthropic donations, Buffett has also campaigned for higher taxes on wealthy individuals, and an end to “unfair” tax breaks for the mega-rich. In a 2011 article penned for The New York Times, he argued that the Bush-era tax regime was overly generous to the wealthy, while those on lower incomes struggled to make ends meet.

“My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress,” he wrote. “It is time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.”

A rigged system?
Corporations, too, ought to pay their fair share, according to Buffett. Last year, Berkshire Hathaway paid the largest corporate tax bill in US history, putting $26.8bn into the treasury coffers. But, far from bemoaning this significant sum, Buffett hopes that his firm will send “even larger” tax payments in the future. In a typically candid annual letter to shareholders, Buffett urged the US government to spend this tax money sensibly and use it to support those who are less fortunate.

Buffett has every intention of keeping a watchful eye on the markets – in 2025 and beyond

“Spend it wisely,” he advised. “Take care of the many, who, for no fault of their own, get the short straws in life. They deserve better.”

This message is very much at odds with the current fiscal thinking in the White House. Republicans in the House and Senate are working to make permanent the tax cuts that President Trump first introduced in 2017, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. Despite costing the federal government an estimated $240bn in lost tax revenue between 2018 and 2021, the Trump administration is forging ahead with its plans to extend the controversial tax cuts.

The bill to enact this tax agenda is now heading to the Senate after passing in the House of Representatives by just one vote. Trump’s 1,100-page “big beautiful bill” not only seeks to advance corporate and individual tax cuts, but also looks to tighten eligibility for health and food programmes for the disadvantaged, in a move that has been roundly criticised by Democrats. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill, if enacted, would reduce income for the poorest 10 percent of households and increase incomes for the top 10 percent. With working-class families set to bear the brunt of these contentious policies, Buffett’s vision of a fairer system seems to be moving further out of reach.

Back in style
Trump’s second term has thus far seen a significant shift in economic policy. Upon his return to the White House, Trump announced a host of sweeping trade tariffs, which have disrupted global markets with unprecedented intensity. Long-time trade partners have scrambled to negotiate new deals with the US, and China has only recently stepped back from the brink of an all-out trade war with its western rival. The era of free trade may well be over, and market volatility is fast becoming the new normal.

These fraught economic conditions look very different to those of Buffett’s heyday. But, ironically, it is this current market volatility that may see Buffett’s investment principles come back into fashion. For some years now, short-termism has dominated the investment world, with many investors chasing quick returns over potential long-term growth. The fast-growing tech sector has also attracted hordes of investors in recent years, with the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ tech stocks taking off astronomically at the end of 2022. By the end of 2024, stocks in these seven companies – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla – accounted for around one-third of the S&P 500’s total market capitalisation, giving them immense influence over the markets and the wider global economy.

Buffett has continued to insist that the super-rich have a responsibility to give back to society

However, amid widespread trade tensions and growing global economic uncertainty, a more traditional approach to investing may be coming back in vogue. Buffett’s brand of value investing can prove popular in times of economic turbulence, as investors look towards more stable parts of the market.

Resilient sectors such as utilities, healthcare and consumer staples may suddenly seem attractive to investors who are looking to make lower-risk investments, or seeking to diversify their portfolio away from tech. In this rapidly evolving market landscape, there may still be a place for old-fashioned value investing, after all. Buffett’s retirement marks the end of an era for both Berkshire Hathaway and the investment sector as a whole. But as the financier prepares to step down from his role as CEO, his strategies will continue to influence new generations of investors.

Buffett’s focus on intrinsic value and playing the long game are, in many ways, timeless values, and can prove their worth in testing economic circumstances. But even as Buffett moves away from his full-time duties, we can still expect to hear more from the outspoken investor. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Buffett revealed that he plans to keep on contributing his investment ideas to the firm even once he retires. “I am not going to sit at home and watch soap operas,” he said. Retirement, for Buffett, doesn’t mean disengaging from his lifelong passions. As he looks towards his 95th birthday in August, Buffett has every intention of keeping a watchful eye on the markets – in 2025 and beyond.