Richest investor

The richest investor is Warren Edward Buffett (USA), whose personal fortune amounts to $84 billion (£62.9 billion) according to estimates published by Forbes on 6 March 2018.

Warren Buffet (b. 30 August 1930), popularly known as “the Sage of Omaha”, is a legend in the business world. He started making small local investments when he was 11, and first filed a tax return when he was 13. After an apprenticeship at various investment firms, he struck out on his own in 1956 and was a millionaire by the end of the decade. In the 1960s he purchased a failing textile firm, Berkshire Hathaway, which he gradually transformed into a vast multinational conglomerate.

Buffet was the richest person in the world for several years, but dropped off the top spot after donating several billion dollars to charities. In 2006 he agreed to transfer some $30.7 billion (£16.6 billion) in Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and has stated that the vast majority of his fortune will pass to charitable foundations on his death.