The legendary American investor was worth $ 100 billion on Thursday, according to Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index. That puts him in the company of just five other men above that threshold. And he is now the sixth richest person in the world, just behind Facebook FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
90-year-old Buffett has added nearly $ 13 billion to his net worth this year as stocks in his industry and insurance group have skyrocketed. Berkshire Hathaway BRKA is up nearly 15% in 2021, giving the company a market capitalization of more than $ 600 billion.
Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are known to invest primarily in slow growth, “value” stocks – many of which have performed very well this year as markets continue to recover from the pandemic crash a year ago. He recently revealed that Berkshire has bought stakes in Dow components Chevron and Verizon, indicating a renewed interest in Big Oil, telecom and media.
Chevron CVX is up 31% as crude oil prices recover the ground they lost during the early months of the pandemic. Verizon VZ hasn’t fared nearly as well – the stock is down nearly 3% this year – but it’s still above the low it hit in March 2020.
Although Buffett has cracked the $ 100 billion mark, he is still far behind the richest person in the world, Amazon AMZN CEO Jeff Bezos, who is worth $ 180 billion according to Bloomberg. Bezos has traded the title Tesla TSLA CEO Elon Musk, who is now worth $ 173 billion as shares in his electric carmaker rallied after recent losses.
Microsoft MSFT co-founder Bill Gates is No. 3 on the $ 138 billion list, while Bernard Arnault, president of the luxury goods group LVMH LVMHF, ranks number 4 with $ 122 billion. Arnault is the richest non-American on the list. Zuckerberg is No. 5 with a net worth of $ 101 billion.
Buffett has donated billions of dollars to philanthropic causes and pledged to give almost all of his fortune to charity in 2006.
– Paul R. La Monica contributed to this report.