Outstanding Oracle of Omaha...

Warren Buffett gives away his fortune: FORTUNE EXCLUSIVE: The world's second richest man - who's now worth $44 billion - tells editor-at-large Carol Loomis he will start giving away 85% of his wealth in July - most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

So says Carol J. Loomis, FORTUNE editor-at-large commenting on the moment Warren Buffett became one of the world's biggest philanthropists: NEW YORK (FORTUNE Magazine) - "We were sitting in a Manhattan living room on a spring afternoon, and Warren Buffett had a Cherry Coke in his hand as usual. But this unremarkable scene was about to take a surprising turn. 'Brace yourself,' Buffett warned with a grin. He then described a momentous change in his thinking. Within months, he said, he would begin to give away his Berkshire Hathaway fortune, then and now worth well over $40 billion." The rest of Carol's article here.

Investopedia.com says: Warren Buffett is one of the richest men in the world. He built his fortune using a simple yet powerful investment strategy. His investments are long-term positions, accomplished by the purchase of strong companies that are trading well below their intrinsic value. Some of his most well-known investments include Coca-Cola and Gillette.

He told us some of how he's become such a success in the Online Original 'Oracle of Omaha' in Business Week Online...



Although it's from 1999, parts of the article are very surprising:
"Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing."
"The Internet as a phenomenon is just huge. That much I understand. I just don't know how to make money at it... I don't try to profit from the Internet. But I do want to understand the damage it can do to an established business. Our approach is very much profiting from lack of change rather than from change. With Wrigley chewing gum, it's the lack of change that appeals to me. I don't think it is going to be hurt by the Internet. That's the kind of business I like."
"With Coke I can come up with a very rational figure for the cash it will generate in the future. But with the top 10 Internet companies, how much cash will they produce over the next 25 years? If you say you don't know, then you don't know what it is worth and you are speculating, not investing. All I know is that I don't know, and if I don't know, I don't invest."
Technology: "I do admire the management of Intel and Microsoft, but I don't have a fix on where they will be in 10 years. I think it is harder to get a fix on those kinds of businesses. I don't know how to value them. And if I started playing around without knowing how to value a company, I might as well buy lottery tickets."…he has eschewed the huge money of the Internet and Technology and STILL made billions by keeping it simple.

S.O.