Warren Buffett Turns 96: The Investments That Made Him a Wall Street Legend

Warren Buffett turns 96 and reaches a new anniversary after having shaped the history of Wall Street for more than six decades. The American investor, globally known as the "Oracle of Omaha", transformed Berkshire Hathaway from a struggling textile company into one of the largest conglomerates in the world and built a fortune based on a strategy that is as simple to explain as it is difficult to replicate: buying good businesses at reasonable prices and holding them for years.

Buffett has already stepped down from the executive leadership of Berkshire Hathaway, which is now in the hands of Greg Abel, although he remains as chairman of the board and one of the main references of the conglomerate.

His journey, however, was not marked solely by great successes. Buffett also made mistakes and profoundly changed his investment approach over the years: he shifted from seeking extremely cheap stocks to prioritizing quality companies with competitive advantages, strong brands, and the ability to generate profits for decades.

Buffett's relationship with investing began very early. He bought his first stocks at just 11 years old and later studied at Columbia Business School, where he was a student of Benjamin Graham, one of the fathers of value investing.

In his early years, his strategy mainly consisted of identifying companies whose market price was below what he considered their true value. This philosophy led him, among other things, to start buying shares of Berkshire Hathaway in 1962.

Paradoxically, this operation would later be recognized by Buffett himself as one of his mistakes. At that time, Berkshire was a textile company losing competitiveness and requiring more and more capital to sustain a business with few prospects.

But Buffett ended up transforming that mistake into the vehicle that would build his empire. Berkshire gradually abandoned the textile business and began acquiring companies and stakes in other businesses. Entering the insurance sector proved fundamental: the float generated by insurers provided him with capital that he could reinvest in new opportunities.

The results explain much of the dimension that Buffett achieved in the markets. Between 1965 and 2024, Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares achieved an annual compounded return of 19.9%, compared to 10.4% for the S&P 500, including dividends.

In six decades, Berkshire's accumulated return surpassed 5,500,000%, while the main U.S. index advanced around 39,000% during the same period.

Among his most well-known investments is Coca-Cola. Berkshire began to build its position in 1988, shortly after the stock market crash of 1987.

The bet was based on characteristics that would later become pillars of Buffett's philosophy: a global brand, recurring consumers, a vast distribution network, and the ability to generate cash consistently. Berkshire ended up investing around $1.3 billion and maintained the position for decades.

Another of his major bets was Apple, an investment that showed how much his strategy evolved. Although Buffett had traditionally avoided technology stocks, Berkshire initially allocated around $35 billion to the company, and the stake reached a value close to $185 billion.

The operation demonstrated the transition from the Buffett who simply sought cheap companies to the investor who favored extraordinary businesses capable of generating value for many years.

Buffett was also not exempt from significant mistakes. In addition to his original purchase of Berkshire, he suffered losses with Dexter Shoe, acknowledged that he took too long to exit Tesco, overestimated the competitive advantages of IBM, and ended up selling Berkshire's stakes in U.S. airlines during the pandemic.

Indeed, a characteristic of his trajectory was the ability to modify his strategy after those mistakes.

At 96 years old, Buffett left the daily management of Berkshire with a stock portfolio that at the end of June was valued at $299.2536 billion. Apple represents 22.04%; American Express, 17.14%; Coca-Cola, 10.86%; Alphabet, 9.41%; and Bank of America, 9.20%.

With Greg Abel now at the helm of operations, Berkshire begins a different phase. But Buffett's legacy remains associated with an idea that has permeated almost his entire career: understanding the business behind a stock, buying with discipline, and giving capital time to grow. At 96 years old, this philosophy continues to be one of the most studied ---and difficult to replicate--- in the history of the markets.

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