Warren Buffett Portfolio Performance History

Berkshire Hathaway performance history (1980 - 2012)

Warren Buffett, the oracle of Omaha, who turned the loss making textile company Berkshire Hathaway into the world's largest holding company, follows the value investing strategy of Benjamin Graham. 

Buffett prefers to acquire great companies trading at a discount to their intrinsic value, and  hold them for a very long time. He only invests in businesses that he understands.  Using simple investing strategies he has outperformed S&P 500 by wide margin. 

Below is the brief snapshot of returns generated by Berkshire Hathaway over 5 years, 10 years and since inception.

Use the following link to download the year wise performance comparison table of Warren Buffett Portfolio and S&P 500. Warren Buffett Performance

Warren Buffett Letter to Shareholders 2011 - 2012 : PDF

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman, Mr. Buffett, sends an annual letter to all of its shareholders and he has been doing this every year since 1977. 

The letter is very informative and Warren Buffett don't forget to highlight his mistakes in the letter (if any), which is a part of a leadership style that has helped him build a company with 270,000 workers and draw crowds of more than 20,000 to hear him speak during annual general meeting. “A friend once asked me: If you’re so rich, why aren’t you smart?” Warren Buffett, said in a letter accompanying the 1996 annual report. 

If you are looking to read some or all of those letters then use the link to download them in PDF format:

Warren Buffett Biography PDF : Free Download

Warren Buffett, the world's richest investor turned philanthropist, has turned the ailing textile business of Berkshire Hathaway into a multi billion dollar furniture to Insurance giant after acquiring it in 1965. 

At the age of six, Buffett purchased 6-packs of Coca Cola from his grandfather's grocery store for twenty five cents and resold each of the bottles for a nickel, pocketing a five cent profit. While other children his age were playing hopscotch and jacks, Warren was making money. Its very encouraging to see that buffett who used to sell coca cola on trolley at the age of Six is now the owner of Coca Cola. He is the largest shareholder of the company as on FEB 2012. 

At the age of eleven Buffet took his first step in the field of stock investing and purchased three shares of Cities Service Preferred at $38 per share. Shortly after buying the stock, it fell to just over $27 per share. A frightened but resilient Warren held his shares until they rebounded to $40. He promptly sold them - a mistake he would soon come to regret. Cities Service shot up to $200. The experience taught him one of the basic lessons of investing - patience is a virtue. More on Mr. Buffett in this exclusive and very interesting biography in pdf format.