by Carol J Loomis (Penguin, R200)
Most of us know who Bill Gates is, but fewer will know about Warren Buffett. Well, he is the fourth richest man in the world and a close friend of Gates. Buffett is also the owner of Berkshire Hathaway which he took over in 1969 as a small textile company in Bedford, Massachusetts.
Today Berkshire Hathaway has added to this base insurance companies, banks, steel-service companies, stores, food companies, and newspaper organisations. Buffett has also become a stockholder in Coca-Cola, Disney, Gillette, IBM, Wells Fargo and the Washington Post Company.
Over the years, Buffett has been issuing regular reports and Carol Loomis has been writing articles in Fortune Magazine on Buffett. These have now been gathered by Loomis and appear in this New York Times best-seller.
Gates wrote in 1996 that he and Buffet were good friends.
“Warren and I share certain values. Since we do not plan on spending much of what we accumulated, we can make sure our wealth benefits society. In a sense, we are both working for charity.”
If you get this book you will gain a fresh insight into Buffett’s investment strategies and his thinking on management, philanthropy, public policy and parenting.