Warren Buffett is set to step down Thursday as chief executive officer (CEO) of Berkshire Hathaway, ending a 55-year run atop the investment giant he built from a struggling textile company into a trillion-dollar empire.
The 95-year-old billionaire, known widely as the “Oracle of Omaha,” will hand control to 63-year-old Greg Abel, NBC News reported. Abdel has served as the head of Berkshire’s energy division. Buffett will stay on as chairman.
Buffett bought his first stock at age 11, investing roughly $115 in a natural gas firm. He became a millionaire by 32 and a billionaire at 56. Today he ranks as the world’s 10th wealthiest person with an estimated $150 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Under his leadership, Berkshire’s stock surged more than 5.5 million percent since 1964, NBC News reported. The S&P 500 returned just 39,000 percent over that same stretch, a Bloomberg calculation found. (RELATED: Coca-Cola To Offer Cane Sugar Alternative After Trump Pressure)
The Omaha-based conglomerate has investments in railroads, insurers and consumer brands. It owns the likes of Geico, Dairy Queen, Duracell and See’s Candy. Apple represents the firm’s largest investment holding at more than $65 billion, or 20% of it’s portfolio, recent filings indicated.
Buffett long preached advice on investing to ordinary Americans, advising most investors to buy low-cost index funds rather than trying to beat the market.
“Most investors, both institutional and individual, will find that the best way to own common stocks is through an index fund that charges minimal fees,” Buffett wrote in 1996.
The billionaire also played a key role during the 2008 financial crisis, providing emergency capital to Goldman Sachs and other struggling firms.
Buffett has donated more than $60 billion as of June to charitable causes through The Giving Pledge, which he founded in 2010 with Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Melina French Gates, according to NBC News.