About top ten richest people

1.  Carlos Slim – US$ 74 billion (Claro, Embratel, Telmex)
2.  Bill Gates – US$ 56 billion (Microsoft)
3.  Warren Buffett - US$ 50 billion (Berkshire Hathaway)
4.  Bernard Arnault – US$ 41 billion (LVMH)
5.  Larry Ellison – US$ 39,5 billion (Oracle)
6.  Lakshmi Mittal - US$ 31,2 billion (Arcelor Mittal)
7. Amancio Ortega – US$ 31 billion (Zara)
8.  Eike Batista – US$ 30 billion (EBX)
9.  Mukesh Ambani – US$ 27 billion (Reliance Industries)
10.  Christy Walton and family - US$ 26,5 billion (Walmart)

 

Carlos Slim born January 28, 1940) is a Mexicanbusiness magnate and philanthropist^[2] who as of 2011 is the richest person in the world. He is the chairman and chief executive of telecommunications companies Telmex and América Móviland has extensive holdings in other Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo CarsoSAB, as well as business interests elsewhere in the world.

América Móvil, which at 2010 was Latin America’s largest mobile-phone carrier, accounted for around US$49 billion of his wealth by the end of 2010.^[3] His corporate holdings as of March 2011 have been estimated at US$74 billion and from these estimates, acccording to Forbes, he is the wealthiest person in the world

Early years

Slim was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1940 to Maronite Christian parents Julián Slim Haddad and Linda Helú, both of Lebanese descent. ^[4] [5] His father, born Khalil Slim Haddad, immigrated to Mexico at the age of 14 in 1902 and changed his first name to Julián.^[6] As it was not uncommon for Lebanese children to be sent abroad before they reached the age of 15 to avoid being conscripted into the Ottoman army, four of Haddad's older brothers were already living in Mexico at the time of his arrival,^[2]

Carlos Slim's mother, Linda Helú, was born in Parral, Chihuahua, of Lebanese parents who had immigrated to Mexico in the late 19th century. Her parents upon immigrating to Mexico had founded one of the first Arabic language magazines for the Lebanese-Mexican community, using a printing press they had brought with them.^[2]

In 1911, Julián established a dry goods store, La Estrella del Oriente (The Star of the Orient). By 1921, he had purchased real estate in the flourishing commercial district of Mexico City. These enterprises became the source of considerable wealth.^[2]

In August 1926, Julián Slim and Linda Helú married. They had six children: Nour, Alma, Julián, José, Carlos and Linda. Julián senior, who had been influential in the Lebanese-Mexican business community, died in 1953

Carlos Slim
Carlos Slim, October 24, 2007
Born	January 28, 1940 (age 71) Mexico City, Mexico
Residence	Mexico
Nationality	Mexican
Ethnicity	Lebanese
Alma mater	Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Occupation	Chairman & CEO of Telmex,América Móvil and Grupo Carso
Known for	World's wealthiest person (2007, 2010, 2011)
Net worth	US$74 billion (2011)[1]
Spouse	Soumaya Domit (m. 1967–1999)
Children	Carlos Marco Antonio Patrick Soumaya Vanessa Johanna
Parents	Julián Slim Haddad (deceased) Linda Helú

Personal wealth

On August 4, 2007, The Wall Street Journal ran a cover story profiling Slim. The article said, "While the market value of his stake in publicly traded companies could decline at any time, at the moment he is probably wealthier than Bill Gates".^[10] On March 29, 2007, Slim surpassedWarren Buffett as the world's second richest person with an estimated net worth of $53.1 billion compared to Buffet's $52.4 billion.^[11]According to The Wall Street Journal, Slim credits part of his ability to "discover investment opportunities" early to the writings of his friend,futurist author Alvin Toffler.^[10]

On August 8, 2007, Fortune reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest man. Slim's estimated fortune soared to $59 billion, based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July. Gates' net worth was estimated to be at least $58 billion.^[10][12]

On March 5, 2008, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates.^[13]

On March 11, 2009, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's third-richest person, behind Gates and Buffett and ahead of Lawrence Ellison.^[13]

On March 10, 2010, Forbes once again reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest man, with a net worth of $53.5 billion. Gates and Buffett now have a net worth of $53 billion and $47 billion respectively.^[13] He was the first Mexican to top the list.^[14] It was the first time in 16 years that the person on top of the list was not from the United States.^[15] It was also the first time the person at the top of the list was from an "emerging economy."^[16]

In March 2011, Forbes stated that Slim had maintained his position as the wealthiest person in the world, with his fortune estimated at $74 billion

Achievements and directorships

Slim has been vice-president of the Mexican Stock Exchange and president of the Mexican Association of Brokerage Houses.^[when?] He was the first president of the Latin-American Committee of the New York Stock Exchange Administration Council, and was in office from 1996 through 1998.

He was on the Board of Directors of the Altria Group (previously known as Philip Morris) until his resignation in April 2006. Slim was also on the Board of Directors of Alcatel. Slim currently sits on the Board of Directors for Philip Morris International. He was on the Board of Directors of SBC Communications until July 2004, when he quit to devote more time to the World Education & Development Fund, which is focused oninfrastructure, health and education projects. In 1997, just before the company introduced its iMac line, Slim bought 3% of Apple Inc.'s stock.

In 2008 it was reported that Slim had shown an interest in buying the Honda Formula One team.^[18] Telmex is sponsoring the Sauber F1 team for the 2011 season.

Awards

Slim has been awarded the Entrepreneurial Merit Medal of Honor from Mexico's Chamber of Commerce. He is a "gold patron" of the American Academy of Achievement,^[26] a Commander in the Belgian Order of Leopold II, CEO of the year in 2003 by Latin Trade magazine, and one year later CEO of the decade by the same magazine.

In 2008 his philanthropy was recognised with the award of The National Order of the Cedar by the Lebanese government

Personal life

Slim was married to Soumaya Domit from 1967 until her death in 1999. Among her interests were various philanthropic projects, including the creation of a legal framework for organ donation.^[2]

Slim has six children: Carlos, Marco Antonio, Patrick, Soumaya, Vanessa, and Johanna.

Bill Gates

William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955)^[3] is an American business magnate,philanthropist, author and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people^[4] and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third.^[5] During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with more than 8 percent of the common stock.^[6] He has also authored or co-authored several books.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a number of industry insiders criticize his business tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts.^[7][8] In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer. Gates' last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman

Bill Gates
Bill Gates at the World Economic Forum inDavos, 2007
Born	October 28, 1955 (age 55) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Residence	Medina, Washington, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University (dropped out in 1975)
Occupation	Chairman of Microsoft Chairman of Corbis Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Director of Berkshire Hathaway CEO of Cascade Investment
Net worth	US$56 billion (2011)[1]
Religion	Agnostic[2]
Spouse	Melinda Gates (m. 1994–present)
Children	3
Parents	William H. Gates, Sr. Mary Maxwell Gates
Signature
Website
Bill Gates

Early life

Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, to William H. Gates, Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates, of English, German, and Scotch-Irish descent.^[9][10] His family was upper middle class; his father was a prominent lawyer, his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way, and her father, J. W. Maxwell, was a national bank president. Gates has one elder sister, Kristi (Kristianne), and one younger sister, Libby. He was the fourth of his name in his family, but was known as William Gates III or "Trey" because his father had dropped his own "III" suffix.^[11] Early on in his life, Gates' parents had a law career in mind for him.^[12] When Gates was young, his family regularly attended a Congregational church.^[13][14][15]

At 13 he enrolled in the Lakeside School, an exclusive preparatory school.^[16] When he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy an ASR-33 Teletype terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the school's students.^[17] Gates took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC, and was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine: an implementation of tic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. Gates was fascinated by the machine and how it would always execute software code perfectly. When he reflected back on that moment, he said, "There was just something neat about the machine."^[18] After the Mothers Club donation was exhausted, he and other students sought time on systems including DEC PDP minicomputers. One of these systems was a PDP-10belonging to Computer Center Corporation (CCC), which banned four Lakeside students—Gates, Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and Kent Evans—for the summer after it caught them exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time.^[19]

At the end of the ban, the four students offered to find bugs in CCC's software in exchange for computer time. Rather than use the system via teletype, Gates went to CCC's offices and studied source code for various programs that ran on the system, including programs inFORTRAN, LISP, and machine language. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970, when the company went out of business. The following year, Information Sciences, Inc. hired the four Lakeside students to write a payroll program in COBOL, providing them computer time and royalties. After his administrators became aware of his programming abilities, Gates wrote the school's computer program to schedule students in classes. He modified the code so that he was placed in classes with mostly female students. He later stated that "it was hard to tear myself away from a machine at which I could so unambiguously demonstrate success."^[18] At age 17, Gates formed a venture with Allen, called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor.^[20] In early 1973, Bill Gates served as a congressional page in the U.S. House of Representatives.^[21]

Gates graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT^[22] and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973.^[23] While at Harvard, he met Steve Ballmer, who later succeeded Gates as CEO of Microsoft.

In his sophomore year, Gates devised an algorithm for pancake sorting as a solution to one of a series of unsolved problems^[24] presented in a combinatorics class by Harry Lewis, one of his professors. Gates' solution held the record as the fastest version for over thirty years;^[24][25]its successor is faster by only one percent.^[24] His solution was later formalized in a published paper in collaboration with Harvard computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou.^[26]

Gates did not have a definite study plan while a student at Harvard^[27] and spent a lot of time using the school's computers. He remained in contact with Paul Allen, joining him at Honeywell during the summer of 1974.^[28] The following year saw the release of the MITS Altair 8800based on the Intel 8080 CPU, and Gates and Allen saw this as the opportunity to start their own computer software company.^[29] He had talked this decision over with his parents, who were supportive of him after seeing how much Gates wanted to start a company

Microsoft

Main articles: History of Microsoft and Microsoft

BASIC

MITS Altair 8800 Computer with 8-inch (200 mm) floppy disk system

After reading the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800, Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the creators of the new microcomputer, to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform.^[30] In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demo, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration, held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque, was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC. Paul Allen was hired into MITS,^[31] and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with Allen at MITS in Albuquerque in November 1975. They named their partnership "Micro-Soft" and had their first office located in Albuquerque.^[31] Within a year, the hyphen was dropped, and on November 26, 1976, the trade name "Microsoft" was registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.^[31] Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies.

Microsoft's BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked into the community and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, Gates wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter saying that MITS could not continue to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software without payment.^[32] This letter was unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it continued to develop programming language software for various systems.^[31] The company moved from Albuquerque to its new home in Bellevue, Washington on January 1, 1979.^[30]

During Microsoft's early years, all employees had broad responsibility for the company's business. Gates oversaw the business details, but continued to write code as well. In the first five years, he personally reviewed every line of code the company shipped, and often rewrote parts of it as he saw fit.^[33]

IBM partnership

In 1980, IBM approached Microsoft to write the BASIC interpreter for its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC. When IBM's representatives mentioned that they needed an operating system, Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI), makers of the widely usedCP/M operating system.^[34] IBM's discussions with Digital Research went poorly, and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and told him to get an acceptable operating system. A few weeks later Gates proposed using 86-DOS (QDOS), an operating system similar to CP/M that Tim Paterson ofSeattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC. Microsoft made a deal with SCP to become the exclusive licensing agent, and later the full owner, of 86-DOS. After adapting the operating system for the PC, Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC-DOSin exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000. Gates did not offer to transfer the copyright on the operating system, because he believed that other hardware vendors would clone IBM's system.^[35] They did, and the sales of MS-DOS made Microsoft a major player in the industry.^[36]

Gates oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made Gates President of Microsoft and the Chairman of the Board.^[30]

Windows

Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985, and in August, the company struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system called OS/2. Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system, mounting creative differences undermined the partnership. Gates distributed an internal memo on May 16, 1991, announcing that the OS/2 partnership was over and Microsoft would shift its efforts to the Windows NT kernel development.^[37]

Management style

From Microsoft's founding in 1975 until 2006, Gates had primary responsibility for the company's product strategy. He aggressively broadened the company's range of products, and wherever Microsoft achieved a dominant position he vigorously defended it. He gained a reputation for being distant to others; as early as 1981 an industry executive complained in public that "Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not returning phone calls."^[38]

As an executive, Gates met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers. Firsthand accounts of these meetings describe him as verbally combative, berating managers for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests at risk.^[39][40] He often interrupted presentations with such comments as, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"^[41] and, "Why don't you just give up your options and join the Peace Corps?"^[42] The target of his outburst then had to defend the proposal in detail until, hopefully, Gates was fully convinced.^[41] When subordinates appeared to be procrastinating, he was known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over the weekend."^[43][44][45]

Gates's role at Microsoft for most of its history was primarily a management and executive role. However, he was an active software developer in the early years, particularly on the company's programming language products. He has not officially been on a development team since working on the TRS-80 Model 100,^[46] but wrote code as late as 1989 that shipped in the company's products.^[44] On June 15, 2006, Gates announced that he would transition out of his day-to-day role over the next two years to dedicate more time to philanthropy. He divided his responsibilities between two successors, placing Ray Ozzie in charge of day-to-day management and Craig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy.^[47]

Antitrust litigation

Further information: United States Microsoft antitrust case and European Union Microsoft competition case

Bill Gates giving his deposition at Microsoft on August 27, 1998

Many decisions that led to antitrust litigation over Microsoft's business practices have had Gates' approval. In the 1998 United States v. Microsoft case, Gates gave deposition testimony that several journalists characterized as evasive. He argued with examiner David Boies over the contextual meaning of words like "compete", "concerned" and "we".^[48] BusinessWeek reported:

Early rounds of his deposition show him offering obfuscatory answers and saying 'I don't recall,' so many times that even the presiding judge had to chuckle. Worse, many of the technology chief's denials and pleas of ignorance were directly refuted by prosecutors with snippets of e-mail Gates both sent and received.^[49]

Gates later said that he had simply resisted attempts by Boies to mischaracterize his words and actions. As to his demeanor during the deposition, he said, "Did I fence with Boies? ... I plead guilty. Whatever that penalty is should be levied against me: rudeness to Boies in the first degree."^[50] Despite Gates's denials, the judge ruled that Microsoft had committed monopolization and tying, and blocking competition, both in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.^[50]

Appearance in ads

Gates appeared in a series of ads to promote Microsoft in 2008. The first commercial, co-starring Jerry Seinfeld, is a 90-second talk between strangers as Seinfeld walks up on a discount shoe store (Shoe Circus) in a mall and notices Gates buying shoes inside. The salesman is trying to sell Mr. Gates shoes that are a size too big. As Gates is buying the shoes he holds up his discount card, which uses a slightly altered version of his own mugshot of his arrest in New Mexico in 1977 for a traffic violation.^[51] As they are walking out of the mall, Seinfeld asks Gates if he has melded his mind to other developers, after getting a yes, he then asks if they are working on a way to make computers edible, again getting a yes. Some say that this is an homage to Seinfeld's own show about "nothing" (Seinfeld).^[52] In a second commercial in the series, Gates and Seinfeld are at the home of an average family trying to fit in with normal people.

Post-Microsoft

Since leaving Microsoft, Gates continues his philanthropy and, among other projects, purchased the video rights to the Messenger Lecturesseries called The Character of Physical Law, given at Cornell University by Richard Feynman in 1964 and recorded by the BBC. The videos are available online to the public at Microsoft's Project Tuva.^[53][54]

In April 2010, Gates was invited to visit and speak at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he asked the students to take on the hard problems of the world in their futures.^[55][56]

Personal life

Bill and Melinda Gates, June 2009.

Gates married Melinda French from Dallas, Texas on January 1, 1994. They have three children: daughter Jennifer Katharine Gates born 1996 (age 14–15), son Rory John Gates born 1999 (age 11–12), and daughter Phoebe Adele Gates born 2002 (age 8–9). The Gates' home is anearth-sheltered house in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington in Medina. According toKing County public records, as of 2006 the total assessed value of the property (land and house) is $125 million, and the annual property tax is $991,000.

His 66,000 sq ft (6,100 m²) estate has a 60-foot (18 m) swimming pool with an underwater music system, as well as a 2,500 sq ft (230 m²) gym and a 1,000 sq ft (93 m²) dining room.^[57]

Also among Gates's private acquisitions is the Codex Leicester, a collection of writings byLeonardo da Vinci, which Gates bought for $30.8 million at an auction in 1994.^[58] Gates is also known as an avid reader, and the ceiling of his large home library is engraved with a quotation from The Great Gatsby.^[59] He also enjoys playing bridge, tennis, and golf.^[60][61]

Gates was number one on the Forbes 400 list from 1993 through to 2007 and number one on Forbes list of The World's Richest People from 1995 to 2007 and 2009. In 1999, Gates's wealth briefly surpassed $101 billion, causing the media to call him a "centibillionaire".^[62] Since 2000, the nominal value of his Microsoft holdings has declined due to a fall in Microsoft's stock price after the dot-com bubble burst and the multi-billion dollar donations he has made to his charitable foundations. In a May 2006 interview, Gates commented that he wished that he were not the richest man in the world because he disliked the attention it brought.^[63] Gates has several investments outside Microsoft, which in 2006 paid him a salary of $616,667 and $350,000 bonus totalling $966,667.^[64] He founded Corbis, a digital imaging company, in 1989. In 2004 he became a director of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company headed by long-time friend Warren Buffett.^[65] In March 2010 Bill Gates was bumped down to the 2nd wealthiest man behind Carlos Slim.

Philanthropy

Gates (second from right) with Bono,Queen Rania of Jordan, Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria and other participants in a 'Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals' during the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forumin Davos, Switzerland.

Further information: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Gates began to appreciate the expectations others had of him when public opinion mounted suggesting that he could give more of his wealth to charity. Gates studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and in 1994 sold some of his Microsoft stock to create the William H. Gates Foundation. In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations into one to create the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world.^[66] The foundation allows benefactors access to information regarding how its money is being spent, unlike other major charitable organizations such as the Wellcome Trust.^[67][68] The generosity and extensive philanthropy of David Rockefellerhas been credited as a major influence. Gates and his father met with Rockefeller several times, and modeled their giving in part on the Rockefeller family's philanthropic focus, namely those global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations.^[69] As of 2007, Bill and Melinda Gates were the second-most generous philanthropists in America, having given over $28 billion to charity.^[70]

The foundation was at the same time criticized because it invests assets that it has not yet distributed with the exclusive goal of maximizing return on investment. As a result, its investments include companies that have been charged with worsening poverty in the same developing countries where the Foundation is attempting to relieve poverty. These include companies that pollute heavily, and pharmaceutical companies that do not sell into the developing world.^[71] In response to press criticism, the foundation announced in 2007 a review of its investments, to assess social responsibility.^[72] It subsequently canceled the review and stood by its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices.^[73]

Gates's wife urged people to learn a lesson from the philanthropic efforts of the Salwen family, which had sold its home and given away half of its value, as detailed in The Power of Half.^[74] Gates and his wife invited Joan Salwen to Seattle to speak about what the family had done, and on December 9, 2010, Gates, investor Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook's CEO) signed a promise they called the "Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge", in which they promised to donate to charity at least half of their wealth over the course of time.^[75][76][77]

Recognition

In 1987 Gates was officially declared a billionaire in the pages of Forbes' 400 Richest People in America issue, just days before his 32nd birthday. As the world's youngest self-made billionaire, he was worth $1.25 billion, over $900 million more than he'd been worth the year before, when he'd debuted on the list.^[78]

Time magazine named Gates one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th century, as well as one of the 100 most influential people of 2004, 2005, and 2006. Time also collectively named Gates, his wife Melinda and U2's lead singer Bono as the 2005 Persons of the Yearfor their humanitarian efforts.^[79] In 2006, he was voted eighth in the list of "Heroes of our time".^[80] Gates was listed in the Sunday Timespower list in 1999, named CEO of the year by Chief Executive Officers magazine in 1994, ranked number one in the "Top 50 Cyber Elite" byTime in 1998, ranked number two in the Upside Elite 100 in 1999 and was included in The Guardian as one of the "Top 100 influential people in media" in 2001.^[81]

In 1994, he was honoured as the twentieth Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. Gates has received honorary doctorates from Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Breukelen, The Netherlands, in 2000;^[82] the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, in 2002; Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, in 2005; Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in April 2007;^[83] Harvard University in June 2007;^[84]the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, in January 2008,^[85] and Cambridge University in June 2009.^[86] He was also made an honorary trustee of Peking University in 2007.^[87] Gates was also made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005,^[88] in addition to having entomologists name the Bill Gates flower fly, Eristalis gatesi, in his honor.^[89]

In November 2006, he and his wife were awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle for their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education, particularly in Mexico, and specifically in the program "Un país de lectores".^[90] In October 2009, it was announced that Gates will be awarded the 2010 Bower Award for Business Leadership of The Franklin Institute for his achievements in business and for his philanthropic work. In 2010 he was honored with the Silver Buffalo Award by the Boy Scouts of America, its highest award for adults, for his service to youth.^[91]

Investments

• Cascade Investments LLC, a private investment and holding company, incorporated in United States, is controlled by Bill Gates, and is headquartered in the city of Kirkland, WA.
• bgC3, a new think-tank company founded by Bill Gates.
• Corbis, a digital image licensing and rights services company.
• TerraPower, a nuclear reactor design company.

Bibliography

Gates has authored two books:

• The Road Ahead (1995)
• Business @ the Speed of Thought (1999)

Filmography

Gates has appeared in at least one film:

• Waiting For Superman^[92]

See also

• List of billionaires (also see List of college dropout billionaires and List of wealthiest non-inflated historical figures)
• Paul Allen – Microsoft's co-founder, friend, and fellow billionaire
• Gary Kildall (October 25, 2004). "The Man Who Could Have Been Bill Gates". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Retrieved June 9, 2010.

Books

• Fridson, Martin (2001). How to be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0471416177.
• Gates, Bill (1996). The Road Ahead. Penguin Books. ISBN 0140260404.
• Lesinski, Jeanne M. (2006). Bill Gates (Biography (a & E)). A&E Television Networks. ISBN 0822570270.
• Manes, Stephen (1994). Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself The Richest Man in America.Touchstone Pictures. ISBN 0671880748.
• Wallace, James (1993). Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.ISBN 0471568864.

Warren Buffett

Warren Edward Buffett ( born August 30, 1930) is an American investor, industrialist and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett",^[4][5] he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.^[6]He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people. He was ranked as the world's wealthiest person in 2008^[7] and is the third wealthiest person in the world as of 2011.^[8]

Buffett is called the "Oracle of Omaha"^[9] or the "Sage of Omaha"^[10] and is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth.^[11] Buffett is also a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent^[12] of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Gates Foundation. He also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Grinnell College

Warren Buffett
Buffett speaking to students from the University of Kansas School of Business, May 6, 2005
Born	Warren Edward Buffett August 30, 1930 (age 80) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Nebraska Columbia Business School
Occupation	Chairman & CEO of Berkshire Hathaway,Investor
Salary	US$100,000[1]
Net worth	US$50 billion (2011)[2]
Spouse	Susan Thompson Buffett (1952–2004) Astrid Menks (2006–present)[3]
Children	Susan Alice Buffett Howard Graham Buffett Peter Andrew Buffett
Signature

Early life

Buffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, the second of three children and only son of businessman and politician Howard Buffett,^[14]and his wife Leila (née Stahl). Buffett began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School in Omaha. In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress, and after moving with his family to Washington, D.C., Warren finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School, and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947, where his senior yearbook picture reads: "likes math; a future stock broker."^[15]

Even as a child, Buffett displayed an interest in making and saving money. He went door to door selling chewing gum, Coca-Cola, or weekly magazines. For a while, he worked in his grandfather's grocery store. While still in high school he was successful in making money by delivering newspapers, selling golfballs and stamps, and detailing cars, among other means. Filing his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route.^[16] In 1945, in his sophomore year of high school, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. Within months, they owned several machines in different barber shops.

Buffett's interest in the stock market and investing also dated to his childhood, to the days he spent in the customers' lounge of a regionalstock brokerage near the office of his father's own brokerage company. On a trip to New York City at the age of ten, he made a point to visit the New York Stock Exchange. At the age of 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself, and three for his sister.^[17][18]While in high school he invested in a business owned by his father and bought a farm worked by a tenant farmer. By the time he finished college, Buffett had accumulated more than $90,000 in savings measured in 2009 dollars.

Benjamin Graham (1894–1976)

Phil Fisher(1907–2004)

Buffett entered college as a freshmen in 1947 at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and studied there for two years from 1947 to 1949. In the year 1950, when he entered his junior year, he transferred to theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln where at the age of nineteen, he graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. After the completion of his undergraduate studies, Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School after learning that Benjamin Graham (author of "The Intelligent Investor" – one of his favorite books on investing) and David Dodd, two well-known securities analysts, taught there. He received a M.S. in Economics from Columbia Business School in 1951. Buffett also attended the New York Institute of Finance. In Buffett’s own words:

“

I’m 15 percent Fisher and 85 percent Benjamin Graham.[19] The basic ideas of investing are to look at stocks as business, use the market's fluctuations to your advantage, and seek a margin of safety. That’s what Ben Graham taught us. A hundred years from now they will still be the cornerstones of investing.[20]

”

Career

See also: List of assets owned by Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett was employed from 1951–54 at Buffett-Falk & Co., Omaha as an investment salesman, from 1954–1956 at Graham-Newman Corp., New York as a securities analyst, from 1956–1969 at Buffett Partnership, Ltd., Omaha as a general partner and from 1970 – Present at Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Omaha as its Chairman, CEO.

In 1950, at the age of 20, Buffett had made and saved $9,800. In April 1952, Buffett discovered Graham was on the board of GEICOinsurance. Taking a train to Washington, D.C. on a Saturday, he knocked on the door of GEICO's headquarters until a janitor allowed him in. There he met Lorimer Davidson, Geico's Vice President, and the two discussed the insurance business for hours. Davidson would eventually become Buffett's life-long friend and a lasting influence^[21] and later recall that he found Buffett to be an "extraordinary man" after only fifteen minutes. Buffett graduated from Columbia and wanted to work on Wall Street, however, both his father and Ben Graham urged him not to. He offered to work for Graham for free, but Graham refused.^[22]

Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker while taking a Dale Carnegie public speaking course.^{[citation needed]} Using what he learned, he felt confident enough to teach an "Investment Principles" night class at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The average age of his students was more than twice his own. During this time he also purchased a Sinclair Texaco gas station as a side investment. However, this did not turn out to be a successful business venture.

In 1952^[23] Buffett married Susan Thompson at Dundee Presbyterian Church and the next year they had their first child, Susan Alice Buffett. In 1954, Buffett accepted a job at Benjamin Graham's partnership. His starting salary was $12,000 a year (approximately $97,000 adjusted to 2008 dollars). There he worked closely with Walter Schloss. Graham was a tough man to work for. He was adamant that stocks provide a wide margin of safety after weighting the trade-off between their price and their intrinsic value. The argument made sense to Buffett but he questioned whether the criteria were too stringent and caused the company to miss out on big winners that had more qualitative values.^{[citation needed]} That same year the Buffetts had their second child, Howard Graham Buffett. In 1956, Benjamin Graham retired and closed his partnership. At this time Buffett's personal savings were over $174,000 ($1.2 million inflation adjusted to 2009 dollars) and he started Buffett Partnership Ltd., an investment partnership in Omaha.

Buffett's home in Omaha

In 1957, Buffett had three partnerships operating the entire year. He purchased a five-bedroom stucco house in Omaha, where he still lives, for $31,500. In 1958 the Buffett's third child, Peter Andrew Buffett, was born. Buffett operated five partnerships the entire year. In 1959, the company grew to six partnerships operating the entire year and Buffett was introduced to Charlie Munger. By 1960, Buffett had seven partnerships operating: Buffett Associates, Buffett Fund, Dacee, Emdee, Glenoff, Mo-Buff and Underwood. He asked one of his partners, a doctor, to find ten other doctors willing to invest $10,000 each in his partnership. Eventually eleven agreed, and Buffett pooled their money with a mere $100 original investment of his own. In 1961, Buffett revealed that Sanborn Map Company accounted for 35% of the partnership's assets. He explained that in 1958 Sanborn stock sold at only $45 per share when the value of the Sanborn investment portfolio was $65 per share. This meant that buyers valued Sanborn stock at "minus $20" per share and were unwilling to pay more than 70 cents on the dollar for an investment portfolio with a map business thrown in for nothing. This earned him a spot on the board of Sanborn.

As a millionaire

In 1962, Buffett became a millionaire, because of his partnerships, which in January 1962 had an excess of $7,178,500, of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Buffett. Buffett merged all partnerships into one partnership. Buffett invested in and eventually took control of a textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett's partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share. In 1965, when Buffett's partnerships began purchasing Berkshire aggressively, they paid $14.86 per share while the company had working capital of $19 per share. This did not include the value of fixed assets (factory and equipment). Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at the board meeting and named a new president, Ken Chace, to run the company. In 1966, Buffett closed the partnership to new money. Buffett wrote in his letter: "... unless it appears that circumstances have changed (under some conditions added capital would improve results) or unless new partners can bring some asset to the partnership other than simply capital, I intend to admit no additional partners to BPL."

In a second letter, Buffett announced his first investment in a private business — Hochschild, Kohn and Co, a privately owned Baltimore department store. In 1967, Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents. In 1969, following his most successful year, Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners. Among the assets paid out were shares of Berkshire Hathaway. In 1970, as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett began writing his now-famous annual letters to shareholders. However, he lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year, and his outside investment income. In 1979, Berkshire began the year trading at $775 per share, and ended at $1,310. Buffett's net worth reached $620 million, placing him on the Forbes 400 for the first time.

In 1973, Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper, and became a member of its board of directors. In 1974, the SEC opened a formal investigation into Warren Buffett and Berkshire's acquisition of WESCO, due to possible conflict of interest. No charges were brought. In 1977, Berkshire indirectly purchased the Buffalo Evening News for $32.5 million. Antitrust charges started, instigated by its rival, the Buffalo Courier-Express. Both papers lost money, until the Courier-Express folded in 1982.

In 1979, Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC. Capital Cities announced $3.5 billion purchase of ABC on March 18, 1985 surprised the media industry, as ABC was four times bigger than Capital Cities at the time. Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett helped finance the deal in return for a 25% stake in the combined company.^[24] The newly merged company, known as Capital Cities/ABC (or CapCities/ABC), was forced to sell off some stations due to FCC ownership rules. Also, the two companies owned several radio stations in the same markets.^[25]

In 1987, Berkshire Hathaway purchased a 12% stake in Salomon Inc., making it the largest shareholder and Buffett the director. In 1990, a scandal involving John Gutfreund (former CEO of Salomon Brothers) surfaced. A rogue trader, Paul Mozer, was submitting bids in excess of what was allowed by the Treasury rules. When this was discovered and brought to the attention of Gutfreund, he did not immediately suspend the rogue trader. Gutfreund left the company in August 1991.^[26] Buffett became Chairman of Salomon until the crisis passed; on September 4, 1991, he testified before Congress.^[27] In 1988, Buffett began buying stock in Coca-Cola Company, eventually purchasing up to 7% of the company for $1.02 billion. It would turn out to be one of Berkshire's most lucrative investments, and one which it still holds.

As a billionaire

Buffett became a billionaire on paper when Berkshire Hathaway began selling class A shares on May 29, 1990, when the market closed at $7,175 a share.^[28] In 1998, he acquired General Re (Gen Re), (in a rare move, for stock). In 2002, Buffett became involved with Maurice R. Greenberg at AIG, with General Re providing reinsurance. On March 15, 2005, AIG's board forced Greenberg to resign from his post as Chairman and CEO under the shadow of criticism from Eliot Spitzer, former attorney general of the state of New York. On February 9, 2006, AIG and the New York State Attorney General's office agreed to a settlement in which AIG would pay a fine of $1.6 billion.^[29] In 2010, the federal government settled with Berkshire Hathaway for $92 million in return for the firm avoiding prosecution in an AIG fraud scheme, and undergoing 'corporate governance concessions'.^[30]

In 2002, Buffett entered in $11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver U.S. dollars against other currencies. By April 2006, his total gain on these contracts was over $2 billion. In 2006, Buffett announced in June that he gradually would give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, starting in July 2006. The largest contribution would go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.^[31]In 2007, in a letter to shareholders, Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor, or perhaps successors, to run his investment business.^[32] Buffett had previously selected Lou Simpson, who runs investments at Geico, to fill that role. However, Simpson is only six years younger than Buffett.

Late 2000s recession

Buffett ran into criticism^[33] during the subprime crisis of 2007–2008, part of the late 2000s recession, that he had allocated capital too early resulting in suboptimal deals. “Buy American. I am.” he wrote for an opinion piece published recently in the New York Times.^[34] Buffett has called the 2007—present downturn in the financial sector "poetic justice".^[35] Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway suffered a 77% drop in earnings during Q3 2008 and several of his recent deals appear to be running into large mark-to-market losses.^[36]

Berkshire Hathaway acquired 10% perpetual preferred stock of Goldman Sachs.^[37] Some of Buffett's Index put options (European exercise at expiry only) that he wrote (sold) are currently running around $6.73 billion mark-to-market losses.^[38] The scale of the potential loss prompted the SEC to demand that Berkshire produce, "a more robust disclosure" of factors used to value the contracts.^[38] Buffett also helped Dow Chemical pay for its $18.8 billion takeover of Rohm & Haas. He thus became the single largest shareholder in the enlarged group with hisBerkshire Hathaway, which provided $3 billion, underlining his instrumental role during the current crisis in debt and equity markets.^[39]

In 2008, Buffett became the richest man in the world dethroning Bill Gates, worth $62 billion according to Forbes,^[40] and $58 billion according to Yahoo.^[41] Bill Gates had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years.^[42] In 2009, Bill Gates regained number one of the list according to Forbes magazine, with Buffett second. Their values have dropped to $40 billion and $37 billion respectively, Buffett having (according to Forbes) lost $25 billion in 12 months during 2008/2009.^[43]

In October 2008, the media reported that Warren Buffett had agreed to buy General Electric (GE) preferred stock.^[44] The operation included extra special incentives: he received an option to buy 3 billion GE at $22.25 in the next five years, and also received a 10% dividend (callable within three years). In February 2009, Buffett sold some of the Procter & Gamble Co, and Johnson & Johnson shares from his portfolio.^[45]

In addition to suggestions of mistiming, questions have been raised as to the wisdom in keeping some of Berkshire's major holdings, including The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) which in 1998 peaked at $86. Buffett discussed the difficulties of knowing when to sell in the company's 2004 annual report:

That may seem easy to do when one looks through an always-clean, rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, however, it’s the windshield through which investors must peer, and that glass is invariably fogged.^[46]

In March 2009, Buffett stated in a cable television interview that the economy had "fallen off a cliff... Not only has the economy slowed down a lot, but people have really changed their habits like I haven't seen". Additionally, Buffett fears we may revisit a 1970s level of inflation, which led to a painful stagflation that lasted many years.^[47][48]

In 2009, Warren Buffett invested $2.6 billion as a part of Swiss Re's raising equity capital.^[49][50] Berkshire Hathaway already owns a 3% stake, with rights to own more than 20%.^[51] In 2009, Warren Buffett acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for $34 billion in cash and stock. Alice Schroeder, author of Snowball, stated that a reason for the purchase was to diversify Berkshire Hathaway from the financial industry.^[52] Measured by market capitalization in the Financial Times Global 500 Berkshire Hathaway as of June 2009 was the eighteenth largest corporation on earth.^[53]

In 2009, Buffett divested his failed investment in ConocoPhillips, saying to his Berkshire investors,

I bought a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak. I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year. I still believe the odds are good that oil sells far higher in the future than the current $40–$50 price. But so far I have been dead wrong. Even if prices should rise, moreover, the terrible timing of my purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars.^[54]

The merger with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) closed upon BNSF shareholder approval in 1Q2010. This deal is valued at approximately $34 billion and reflects an increase of a previously existing stake of about 22%.

In June 2010, Buffett defended the credit rating agencies for their role in the US financial crisis, claiming that:

Very, very few people could appreciate the bubble. That's the nature of bubbles – they're mass delusions.^[55]

On March 18, 2011, Goldman Sachs acquired Federal Reserve approval to buy back Berkshire's preferred stock in Goldman. Buffet has been reluctant to give up the stock which averages $1.4 million in dividend a day,^[56] stating:^[57]

I'm going to be the Osama bin Laden of capitalism. I'm on my way to an unknown destination in Asia where I'm going to look for a cave. If the U.S. Armed forces can't find Osama bin Laden in 10 years, let Goldman Sachs try to find me.^[58]

Personal life

Buffett married Susan Buffett (née Thompson) in 1952. They had three children, Susie, Howard and Peter. The couple began living separately in 1977, although they remained married until her death in July 2004. Their daughter, Susie, lives in Omaha and does charitable work through the Susan A. Buffett Foundation and is a national board member of Girls, Inc. In 2006, on his seventy-sixth birthday, Warren married his never-married longtime-companion, Astrid Menks, who was then sixty years old. She had lived with him since his wife's departure to San Francisco in 1977.^[59] It was Susan Buffett who arranged for the two to meet before she left Omaha to pursue her singing career. All three were close and holiday cards to friends were signed "Warren, Susie and Astrid".^[60] Susan Buffett briefly discussed this relationship in an interview on the Charlie Rose Show shortly before her death, in a rare glimpse into Buffett's personal life.^[61]

Warren Buffett disowned his son Peter's adopted daughter, Nicole, in 2006 after she participated in the Jamie Johnson documentary, The One Percent. Although his first wife had referred to Nicole as one of her "adored grandchildren",^[62] Buffett wrote her a letter stating, "I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin." He signed the letter "Warren."^[63][64][65]

His 2006 annual salary was about $100,000, which is small compared to senior executive remuneration in comparable companies.^[66] In 2007 and 2008, he earned a total compensation of $175,000, which included a base salary of just $100,000.^[67][68] He lives in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, today valued at around $700,000 (although he also owns a $4 million house in Laguna Beach, California).^[69] In 1989 after having spent nearly 6.7 million dollars of Berkshire's funds on a private jet, Buffett sheepishly named it "The Indefensible". This act was a break from his past condemnation of extravagant purchases by other CEOs and his history of using more public transportation.^[70]

He remains an avid player of bridge, which he learned from Sharon Osberg, and plays with her and Bill Gates.^[71] He spends twelve hours a week playing the game.^[72] In 2006, he sponsored a bridge match for the Buffett Cup. Modeled on the Ryder Cup in golf, held immediately before it, and in the same city, a team of twelve bridge players from the United States took on twelve Europeans in the event. He is a dedicated, lifelong follower of Nebraska football, and attends as many games as his schedule permits. He supported the hire of Bo Pelinifollowing the 2007 season stating, "It was getting kind of desperate around here".^[73] He watched the 2009 game against Oklahoma from the Nebraska sideline after being named an honorary assistant coach.^[74]

Warren Buffett worked with Christopher Webber on an animated series with chief Andy Heyward, of DiC Entertainment, and then A Squared Entertainment. The series features Buffett and Munger, and teaches children healthy financial habits for life.^[75][76] Buffett was raisedPresbyterian but has since described himself as agnostic^[77] In December 2006 it was reported that Buffett does not carry a cell phone, does not have a computer at his desk, and drives his own automobile.^[78] a Cadillac DTS.^[79] Buffett wears tailor-made suits from the Chinese labelTrands; earlier he wore Ermenegildo Zegna.^[80]

Lineage

Buffett's DNA report revealed that his paternal ancestors hail from northern Scandinavia, while his maternal ancestors most likely have roots in Iberia or Estonia.^[81]

Recognition

In 1999, Buffett was named the top money manager of the twentieth century in a survey by the Carson Group, ahead of Peter Lynch and John Templeton.^[82] In 2007, he was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in the world.^[83] In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.^[84] Most recently, Buffett, along with Bill Gates, was named the most influential global thinker in Foreign Policy's 2010 report.^[85]

Politics

Buffett and President Obama at the Oval Office, July 14, 2010

In addition to other political contributions over the years, Buffett has formally endorsed and made campaign contributions to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. On July 2, 2008, Buffett attended a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Obama's campaign in Chicago hosted by Obama's National Finance Chair, Penny Pritzker and her husband, as well as Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett.^[86] Buffett backed Obama for president, and intimated that John McCain's views on social justice were so far from his own that McCain would need a "lobotomy" for Buffett to change his endorsement.^[87] During the second 2008 U.S. presidential debate, candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, after being asked first by presidential debate mediator Tom Brokaw, both mentioned Buffett as a possible future Secretary of the Treasury.^[88] Later, in the third and final presidential debate, Obama mentioned Buffett as a potential economic advisor.^[89] Buffett was also finance advisor to California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger during his 2003 election campaign.^[90]

Writings

Warren Buffett's writings include his annual reports and various articles. Buffett is recognized by communicators^[91] as a great story-teller, as evidenced by his annual letters to shareholders. He warned about the pernicious effects of inflation:^[92]

The arithmetic makes it plain that inflation is a far more devastating tax than anything that has been enacted by our legislatures. The inflation tax has a fantastic ability to simply consume capital. It makes no difference to a widow with her savings in a 5 percent passbook account whether she pays 100 percent income tax on her interest income during a period of zero inflation, or pays no income taxes during years of 5 percent inflation.

—Buffett, Fortune (1977)

In his article The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville, Buffett rebutted the academic Efficient-market hypothesis, that beating the S&P 500 was "pure chance", by highlighting the results achieved by a number of students of the Graham and Dodd value investing school of thought. In addition to himself, Buffett named Walter J. Schloss, Tom Knapp, Ed Anderson (Tweedy, Brown Inc.), Bill Ruane (Sequoia Fund, Inc.), Charles Munger (Buffett's own business partner at Berkshire), Rick Guerin (Pacific Partners, Ltd.), and Stan Perlmeter (Perlmeter Investments).^[93] In his November 1999 Fortune article, he warned of investors' unrealistic expectations:^[94]

Let me summarize what I've been saying about the stock market: I think it's very hard to come up with a persuasive case that equities will over the next 17 years perform anything like—anything like—they've performed in the past 17. If I had to pick the most probable return, from appreciation and dividends combined, that investors in aggregate—repeat, aggregate—would earn in a world of constant interest rates, 2% inflation, and those ever hurtful frictional costs, it would be 6%!

—Buffett, Fortune (1999)

Wealth

In 2008 he was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately US$62 billion.^[95] In 2009, after donating billions of dollars to charity, Buffett was ranked as the second richest man in the United States with a net worth of US$37 billion^[96][97] with only Bill Gates ranked higher than Buffett. His net worth is up to $47 billion in the past 12 months.^[98]

Philanthropy

The following quotation from 1988 highlights Warren Buffett's thoughts on his wealth and why he long planned to re-allocate it:

“

I don't have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It's like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GDP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don't do that though. I don't use very many of those claim checks. There's nothing material I want very much. And I'm going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die. (Lowe 1997:165–166)

”

From a NY Times article: "I don't believe in dynastic wealth", Warren Buffett said, calling those who grow up in wealthy circumstances "members of the lucky sperm club".^[99] Buffett has written several times of his belief that, in a market economy, the rich earn outsized rewards for their talents:

“

A market economy creates some lopsided payoffs to participants. The right endowment of vocal chords [sic?????], anatomical structure, physical strength, or mental powers can produce enormous piles of claim checks (stocks, bonds, and other forms of capital) on future national output. Proper selection of ancestors similarly can result in lifetime supplies of such tickets upon birth. If zero real investment returns diverted a bit greater portion of the national output from such stockholders to equally worthy and hardworking citizens lacking jackpot-producing talents, it would seem unlikely to pose such an insult to an equitable world as to risk Divine Intervention.[100]

”

His children will not inherit a significant proportion of his wealth. This is consistent with statements he has made in the past indicating his opposition to the transfer of great fortunes from one generation to the next.^[101] Buffett once commented, "I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing".^[102]

In June 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.^[103] He pledged about the equivalent of 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (worth approximately US$30.7 billion as of June 23, 2006),^[104] making it the largest charitable donation in history, and Buffett one of the leaders ofphilanthrocapitalism.^[105] The foundation will receive 5% of the total donation on an annualised basis each July, beginning in 2006. (Significantly, however, the pledge is conditional upon the foundation's giving away each year, beginning in 2009, an amount that is at least equal to the value of the entire previous year's gift from Buffett, in addition to 5% of the foundation's net assets.) Buffett also will join the board of directors of the Gates Foundation, although he does not plan to be actively involved in the foundation's investments.^[106][107]

This is a significant shift from previous statements Buffett has made, having stated that most of his fortune would pass to his Buffett Foundation.^[108] The bulk of the estate of his wife, valued at $2.6 billion, went to that foundation when she died in 2004.^[109] He also pledged $50-million to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in Washington, where he has served as an adviser since 2002.^[110]

In 2006, he auctioned his 2001 Lincoln Town Car^[111] on eBay to raise money for Girls, Inc.^[112] In 2007, he auctioned a luncheon with himself that raised a final bid of $650,100 for a charity.^[113] On June 27, 2008, Zhao Danyang, a general manager at Pure Heart China Growth Investment Fund, won the 2008 5-day online "Power Lunch with Warren Buffett" charity auction with a bid of $2,110,100. Auction proceeds benefit the San Francisco Glide Foundation.^[114][115] The following year, executives from Toronto-based Salida Capital paid US$1.68 million to dine with Buffett.^[116]

In a letter to Fortune Magazine's website in 2010 Buffett remarked:

“

“My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well... I’ve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions. In short, fate’s distribution of long straws is wildly capricious.” . (Buffett Says ‘Capricious’ Economy Requires Charity (Update1) by Hugh Son, Bloomberg, June 16, 2010 16:17 EDT)

”

This statement was made as part of a joint proposal with Bill Gates to encourage other wealthy individuals to pool some of their fortunes for charitable purposes.

Bill Gates's wife Melinda urged people to learn a lesson from the philanthropic efforts of the family that sold its home and gave away half of its value, as detailed in The Power of Half.^[117][118] On December 9, 2010, Buffett, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook's CEO), signed a promise they called the "Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge", in which they promised to donate to charity at least half of their wealth over time, and invited others among the wealthy to donate 50% or more of their wealth to charity.^[119][120]

Public positions

Buffett's speeches are known for mixing business discussions with humor. Each year, Buffett presides over Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting in the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska, an event drawing over 20,000 visitors from both United States and abroad, giving it the nickname "Woodstock of Capitalism".^[121] Berkshire's annual reports and letters to shareholders, prepared by Buffett, frequently receive coverage by the financial media. Buffett's writings are known for containing quotations from sources as ranging between the Bible andMae West,^[122] as well as advice in a Midwestern folk style, and numerous jokes.

Buffett and tobacco

During the RJR Nabisco, Inc. hostile takeover fight in 1987, Buffett was quoted as telling John Gutfreund:^[123]

I’ll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It’s addictive. And there’s fantastic brand loyalty.

—Buffett, quoted in Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

Speaking at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s 1994 annual meeting, Buffett said investments in tobacco are:^[124]

fraught with questions that relate to societal attitudes and those of the present administration. I would not like to have a significant percentage of my net worth invested in tobacco businesses. The economy of the business may be fine, but that doesn't mean it has a bright future.

—Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting (1994)

Buffett and coal

In 2007, Buffett's PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of his MidAmerican Energy Company, canceled six proposed coal-fired power plants. These included Utah's Intermountain Power Project Unit 3, Jim Bridger Unit 5, and four proposed plants previously included in PacifiCorp's Integrated Resource Plan. The cancellations came in the wake of pressure from regulators and citizen groups, including a petition drive organized by Salt Lake City commercial real estate broker Alexander Lofft and directed at Buffett personally. The 1,600 petitioners, who described themselves in a letter to Buffett as "a collection of citizens, business owners and managers, service professionals, public servants, and organization representatives ... your friends and new customers here in Utah," explained that, in their view, any further expansion of coal generation in Utah would "compromise our health, obscure our viewsheds, shrink and contaminate our watersheds, and thin out our most beloved snow pack," concluding that "our attractiveness as a place to live and work is also threatened, and so is our economic competitiveness as a major metro area and a state, compromising our recent gains in income and property values".^[125]

Klamath river

American Indian tribes and salmon fishermen sought to win support from Warren Buffett for a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River. He had David Sokol respond that the FERC would decide the question.^[126][127]

Trade deficit

Buffett views the United States' expanding trade deficit as a trend that will devalue the US dollar and US assets. He believes that the US dollar will lose value in the long run, as a result of putting a larger portion of ownership of US assets in the hands of foreigners. In his letter to shareholders in March 2005, Warren Buffett predicted that in another ten years’ time the net ownership of the U.S. by outsiders would amount to $11 trillion.

Americans ... would chafe at the idea of perpetually paying tribute to their creditors and owners abroad. A country that is now aspiring to an ‘ownership society’ will not find happiness in – and I’ll use hyperbole here for emphasis – a 'sharecropping society’.

Author Ann Pettifor has adopted the image in her writings and has stated: "He is right. And so the thing we must fear most now, is not just the collapse of banks and investment funds, or of the international financial architecture, but of a 'sharecropper society, angry at its downfall".^[128]

Dollar and gold

This (WHAT???) induced Buffett to enter the foreign currency market for the first time in 2002. However, he substantially reduced his stake in 2005 as changing interest rates increased the costs of holding currency contracts. Buffett continues to be bearish on the dollar, and says he is looking to acquire companies which derive a substantial portion of their revenues from outside the United States. Buffett emphasized the non-productive aspect of a gold standard for the USD in 1998 at Harvard:

It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.

In 1977 Buffett was also quoted as saying about stocks, gold, farmland, and inflation:

Stocks are probably still the best of all the poor alternatives in an era of inflation – at least they are if you buy in at appropriate prices.^[129]

Taxes

Buffett stated that he only paid 19% of his income for 2006 ($48.1 million) in total federal taxes (due to their being from dividends & capital gains), while his employees paid 33% of theirs, despite making much less money.^[130] “How can this be fair?” Buffet asked, regarding how little he pays in taxes compared to his employees. “How can this be right?” He also added:

“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”^[131][132]

Buffett favors the inheritance tax, saying that repealing it would be like "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics".^[133] In 2007, Buffett testified before the Senate and urged them to preserve the estate tax so as to avoid a plutocracy.^[134] Some critics have argued that Buffett (through Berkshire Hathaway) has a personal interest in the continuation of the estate tax, since Berkshire Hathaway has benefited from the estate tax in past business dealings and had developed and marketed insurance policies to protect policy holders against future estate tax payments.^[135] Buffett believes government should not be in the business of gambling, or legalizing casinos, calling it a tax on ignorance.^[136]

Expensing of stock options

He has been a strong proponent of stock option expensing on the Income Statement. At the 2004 annual meeting, he lambasted a bill before the United States Congress that would consider only some company-issued stock options compensation as an expense, likening the bill to one that was almost passed by the Indiana House of Representatives to change the value of Pi from 3.14159 to 3.2 through legislative fiat.^[137]

When a company gives something of value to its employees in return for their services, it is clearly a compensation expense. And if expenses don't belong in the earnings statement, where in the world do they belong?^[138]

Investing in China

Buffett invested in PetroChina Company Limited and in a rare move, posted a commentary^[139] on Berkshire Hathaway's website stating why he would not divest from the company despite calls from some activists to do so, due to its connection with the Sudanese civil war that caused Harvard to divest from the company in 2005. He did, however, sell this stake soon afterwards, sparing him the billions of dollars he would have lost had he held on to the company in the midst of the steep drop in oil prices beginning in the summer of 2008.

In October 2008, Buffett invested in new energy automobile business by paying $230 million for 10% of BYD Company (SEHK: 1211), which runs a subsidiary of electric automobile manufacturer BYD Auto. In less than one year, the investment has reaped him over 500% return of profit.^[140]

Books about Buffett

Numerous books have been written about Warren Buffett and his investment strategies. In October 2008, USA Today reported that there were at least 47 books in print with Buffett's name in the title. The article quoted the CEO of Borders Books, George Jones, as saying that the only other living persons named in as many book titles were U.S. presidents, major world political figures, and the Dalai Lama.^[141] Buffett said that his own personal favorite is a collection of his essays called The Essays of Warren Buffett,^[142] which he described as "a coherent rearrangement of ideas from my annual report letters" as edited by Larry Cunningham.^[141]

Some best-selling, or otherwise notable, books about Buffett

Bernard Arnault

Bernard Arnault
Born	5 March 1949 (age 62) Roubaix, France
Alma mater	École Polytechnique
Occupation	Chairman & CEO, LVMH Chairman, Christian Dior SA
Net worth	US$41 billion (2011)[1]
Spouse	Hélène Mercier (Pianist)

Bernard Arnault
Born	5 March 1949 (age 62) Roubaix, France
Alma mater	École Polytechnique
Occupation	Chairman & CEO, LVMH Chairman, Christian Dior SA
Net worth	US$41 billion (2011)[1]
Spouse	Hélène Mercier (Pianist)

Bernard Arnault (born 5 March 1949) is a French businessman best known as the chairman and CEO of the French conglomerate LVMH, the largest luxury-products company in the world.^[2][3][4] According to Forbes Magazine, Arnault is the world's 4th and Europe's richest person, with a 2011 net worth of US$41 billion.

Education and business career

Arnault was born in Roubaix. After graduating from the Maxence Van Der Meersch High School, Arnault was admitted to the École Polytechnique (X1969) from which he graduated with an engineering degree in 1971. After graduation, Arnault joined his father's company. In 1976, he convinced his father to liquidate the construction division of the company for 40 million French francs, and to change the focus of the company to real estate. Using the name Férinel, the new company developed a specialty holiday accommodation. In 1979, he succeeded his father as president of the company.

When François Mitterrand was elected President of France in 1981, Arnault emigrated to the United States and created Ferinel Inc. Through this vehicle, Arnault undertook construction activity in the United States, developing an apartment complex in limited partnership form in West Palm Beach, Florida, which defaulted on its mortgage shortly after its completion. The equity investors lost their entire investment and bondholders who had financed the project lost most of their money as well. He was not particularly successful in the United States. Three years later, when the French Socialists switched to a more conservative economic course, Arnault returned to France and became the CEO of Financière Agache, a luxury goods company. With the help of Antoine Bernheim, a senior partner of Lazard Frères et Cie., the Paris office of Lazard Frères & Co., and government subsidies conferred in exchange for a promise not to downsize, Arnault acquired Boussac, a textile company in turmoil. The Arnault family put up just $15 million of their own money, with Lazard supplying the rest of the reported $80 million purchase price.^[6] Arnault sold nearly all the company's assets, keeping only the prestigious Christian Dior brand, and Le Bon Marché department store.^[7]

In 1987, shortly after the creation of LVMH, Mr Arnault exploited a growing conflict between Alain Chevalier, Moët Hennessy's CEO, andHenry Recamier, president of Louis Vuitton. The new group held property rights to Dior perfumes, which Arnault craved to incorporate into Dior Couture. He created a holding company of which he owned 60% and Guinness, who had a distribution agreement with Moët-Hennessy, owned 40%. Following the October 1987 stock market crash, he capitalized on the lower quoted price and soon owned 43% of LVMH. He then consolidated his position by purging executives from both companies including appointing his father Jean Leon Arnault Chairman of the Supervisory board before officially taking over as Chairman & CEO in 1989.

In 2007 he acquired 10.69% of France's largest supermarket retailer and the world's second largest food distributor, Carrefour through his Blue Capital, which is jointly owned by California property firm Colony Capital.

He has since then led the company through an ambitious development plan, turning it into one of the largest luxury groups in the world, alongside Swiss luxury giant Richemont and French based PPR Group.

Among other companies, Arnault also owned the art auction house, Phillips de Pury & Company from 1999 to 2003.^[8]

Personal life

Arnault has been married twice, and is the father of five children. His daughter Delphine Arnault is actively involved in the management of LVMH. His second wife, Hélène Mercier, is a pianist from Quebec. His nephew Harry Seaman is also involved in LVMH, overseeing sales and he is currently researching in Australia. Mr Arnault is a noted art collector. Following the example of business man François Pinault, he created a Louis Vuitton foundation for contemporary art. Designed by Frank Gehry, the construction of the foundation should open at theJardin d'acclimatation in 2012.

Arnault was a witness at President Nicolas Sarkozy's wedding to Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz. He was also awarded the French Legion of Honor.

Competitors

Arnault's main business competitors are:

• French businessman François-Henri Pinault, whose holding company PPR owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, Sergio Rossi, Bottega Veneta, Boucheron, Roger & Gallet, Bédat & Co and Christie's.

• Swiss-based Richemont, which owns Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Piaget, Baume et Mercier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, A. Lange & Söhne,Officine Panerai, Vacheron Constantin, Dunhill, Lancel, Montblanc, Old England, Purdey, Chloé, and Shanghai Tang.

Controversies

In January 2007 Kathryn Blair, the daughter of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, completed an intensive French language and culture course at France's Sorbonne University. Tony Blair has been criticised for accepting an invitation on her behalf from Bernard Arnault. During Kathryn Blair's course, which ran from 12 October 2006 to 26 January 2007, she is thought to have been provided with an accommodation, security and transport package worth around £80,000

Larry Ellison

Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American business magnate, co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, a major enterprise softwarecompany. As of 2011, he is the fifth^[3] richest person in the world, with a personal wealth of $39.5 billion.

Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison, October 2009
Born	Lawrence Joseph Ellison August 17, 1944 (age 66) Bronx, New York, USA
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Illinois at Urbana(Dropout) University of Chicago (Dropout)
Occupation	Co-founder & CEO of Oracle Corporation
Salary	$70.1 M (2009)[1]
Net worth	US$39.5 billion (2011)[2]
Spouse	Adda Quinn (m. 1967–1974)  Nancy Wheeler Jenkins (m. 1977–1978)  Barbara Boothe (m. 1983–1986)  Melanie Craft (m. 2003–2010)
Children	2

Early life

Larry Ellison was born in New York City to Florence Spellman, an unwed 19-year-old.^[5][6]Ellison's biological father was an Italian-American U. S. Air Force pilot, who was stationed abroad before Spellman realized that she had become pregnant by him.^[6] After Larry Ellison contracted pneumonia at the age of nine months, his mother determined that she was unable to care for him adequately, and arranged for him to be adopted by her aunt and uncle in Chicago.^[6]Lillian Spellman Ellison and Louis Ellison adopted him when he was nine months old. Lillian was the second wife of Louis Ellison, an immigrant who had arrived in the United States in 1905 from Russia.^[6] Ellison did not meet his biological mother until he was 48.^[7]

Ellison graduated from Eugene Field Elementary School on Chicago's north side in January, 1958 and attended Sullivan High School at least through the fall of 1959 before moving to South Shore.

Ellison was raised in a Reform Jewish family.^[8] He grew up in a two-bedroom apartment in Chicago's South Shore middle-class Jewish neighborhood. Ellison remembers his adoptive mother as warm and loving, in contrast to his austere, unsupportive, and often distant adoptive father, who adopted the name Ellison to honor his point of entry into the USA, Ellis Island.^[6] Louis, his adoptive father, was a modest government employee who had made a small fortune in Chicago real estate, only to lose it during the Great Depression.^[6]

Ellison was a bright but inattentive student. He left the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at the end of his second year, after not taking his final exams because his adoptive mother had just died. After spending a summer in Northern California, where he lived with his friend Chuck Weiss, he attended the University of Chicago for one term, where he first encountered computer design. In 1964, at 20 years of age, he moved to northern California permanently.

[edit]Career

Larry Ellison lecturing at the Oracle OpenWorld, San Francisco 2010

During the 1970s, after a brief stint at Amdahl Corporation, Ellison worked for Ampex Corporation. One of his projects was a database for the CIA, which he named "Oracle".

Ellison was inspired by the paper written by Edgar F. Codd on relational database systems called "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks".^[9] In 1977, he founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL). In 1979, the company was renamed Relational Software Inc., later renamed Oracle after the flagship product Oracle database. He had heard about the IBMSystem R database, also based on Codd's theories, and wanted Oracle to be compatible with it, but IBM made this impossible by refusing to share System R's code. The initial release of Oracle was Oracle 2; there was no Oracle 1. The release number was intended to imply that all of the bugs had been worked out of an earlier version.

This section requires expansion.

In 1990, Oracle laid off 10% (about 400 people) of its work force because it was losing money. This crisis, which almost resulted in Oracle's bankruptcy, came about because of Oracle's "up-front" marketing strategy, in which sales people urged potential customers to buy the largest possible amount of software all at once. The sales people then booked the value of future license sales in the current quarter, thereby increasing their bonuses. This became a problem when the future sales subsequently failed to materialize. Oracle eventually had to restate its earnings twice, and also to settle out of court class action lawsuits arising from its having overstated its earnings. Ellison would later say that Oracle had made "an incredible business mistake."

Although IBM dominated the mainframe relational database market with its DB2 and SQL/DS database products, it delayed entering the market for a relational database on UNIX and Windows operating systems. This left the door open for Sybase, Oracle, and Informix (and eventually Microsoft) to dominate mid-range systems and microcomputers.

Around this time, Oracle fell behind Sybase. In 1990–1993, Sybase was the fastest growing database company and the database industry's darling vendor, but soon fell victim to its merger mania. Sybase's 1993 merger with Powersoft resulted in a loss of focus on its core database technology. In 1993, Sybase sold the rights to its database software running under the Windows operating system to Microsoft Corporation, which now markets it under the name "SQL Server."

In 1994, Informix Software overtook Sybase and became Oracle's most important rival. The intense war between Informix CEO Phil White and Ellison was front page Silicon Valley news for three years. In April, 1997, Informix announced a major revenue shortfall and earnings restatements; Phil White eventually landed in jail, and Informix was absorbed by IBM in 2000. Also in 1997, Ellison was made a director ofApple Computer after Steve Jobs came back to the company. Ellison resigned in 2002, saying that he did not have the time to attend necessary formal board meetings.^[10]

Once Informix and Sybase were defeated, Oracle enjoyed years of industry dominance until the rise of Microsoft SQL Server in the late 90s and IBM's acquisition of Informix Software in 2001 to complement their DB2 database. Today Oracle's main competition for new database licenses on UNIX, Linux, and Windows operating systems is with IBM's DB2, the open source database MySQL, and with Microsoft SQL Server (which only runs on Windows). IBM's DB2 still dominates the mainframe database market.

In April 2009, Oracle announced its intent to buy Sun Microsystems after a tug of war with IBM and Hewlett-Packard.^[11] The European Union approved the acquisition by Oracle of Sun Microsystems on January 21, 2010 and agreed that "Oracle's acquisition of Sun has the potential to revitalize important assets and create new and innovative products".^[12]

On August 9, 2010, Ellison denounced Hewlett-Packard's board for firing CEO Mark Hurd, writing: "The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago." Ellison and Hurd are close personal friends – Hurd often plays tennis at Ellison's house.^[13] Then on September 6, Oracle hired Mark Hurd and made him Co-President alongside Safra A. Catz. Ellison retained the CEO position.^[14]

Ellison owns stakes in Salesforce.com, NetSuite, Quark Biotechnology Inc. and SuperGen.^[15][16]

[edit]Compensation

In 2005, Oracle paid Ellison a $975,000 salary, a $6,500,000 bonus, and other compensation of $955,100.^[17] In 2007, Ellison earned a total compensation of $61,180,524, which included a base salary of $1,000,000, a cash bonus of $8,369,000, and options granted of $50,087,100.^[18] In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $84,598,700, which included a base salary of $1,000,000, a cash bonus of $10,779,000, no stocks granted, and options granted of $71,372,700.^[19] In the year ending May 31, 2009 he made $56.8 million.^[20]

For a short period in 2000, Ellison was the richest man in the world.^[21]

In 2006, Forbes ranked Ellison as the richest Californian.^[2]

On July 2, 2009, for the fourth year in a row, Oracle's Board awarded Ellison another 7 million stock options.^[22]

On August 22, 2009, it was reported that Ellison would be paid only $1 for his base salary for the fiscal year of 2010, down from the $1,000,000 he was paid in fiscal 2009.^[1]

As of March 10, 2010, Ellison was listed on the Forbes list of billionaires as the sixth richest person in the world. He is the third richest American, with an estimated net worth of US $28 billion.^[2]

On July 27, 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ellison was the best-paid executive in the last decade, collecting a total compensation of US $1.84 billion.^[23]

[edit]Personal life

Ellison has been married and divorced four times.^[24][25] He was married to Adda Quinn from 1967 to 1974. He was married to Nancy Wheeler Jenkins between 1977 and 1978. From 1983 to 1986, he was married to Barbara Boothe: two children were born of this marriage, a son and daughter named David and Megan. Both Megan and David were Executive producers for the 2010 Coen Brothers film True Grit.

On 18 December 2003, Ellison married Melanie Craft, a romance novelist, at his Woodside estate. His friend Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple, Inc) was the official wedding photographer,^[26] and Representative Tom Lantos officiated.

Ellison and Melanie Craft-Ellison divorced in September 2010.

[edit]Yachting

Ellison recently ended his ownership of the sixth largest yacht in the world, named Rising Sun. He sold his remaining shares in the yacht^[27]to music and film mogul David Geffen. Rising Sun is 453 ft. (138 m) long,^[28] and reportedly cost over US $200 million to build.

Ellison is a financier of the BMW Oracle Racing team,^[29] which won the 2010 America's Cup.

[edit]Tennis

Ellison has followed professional tennis all his life, and took up the game in 2004. In 2010, he purchased a 50% share in one of the top four tournaments in the United States, the BNP Paribas Open.^[30] This purchase saved the tournament from being sold and moved outside of the U.S.

[edit]2007 America's Cup

BMW Oracle Racing was the Challenger of Record on behalf of the Golden Gate Yacht Club of San Francisco for the 2007 America's Cup inValencia, Spain until eliminated from the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup challenger selection series in the semi-finals.

[edit]2010 America's Cup

On 14 February 2010, Ellison's yacht USA 17 won the second race (in the best of three "deed of gift" series) of the 33rd America's Cup, after winning the first race two days earlier. Securing a historic victory, Ellison and his BMW Oracle team became the first challengers to win a "deed of gift" match. The Cup returned to American shores for the first time since 1995. Ellison was a crew member for the second race.^[31]

Previously, Ellison had filed several legal challenges, through the Golden Gate Yacht Club, against the way that Ernesto Bertarelli (also one of the world's richest men) has proposed to organize the 33rd America's Cup following the 2007 victory of Bertarelli's team Alinghi.^[32] The races were finally held^{[clarification needed]} in February 2010 in Valencia, Spain.

[edit]Private jet

Ellison is a licensed pilot and has owned several aircraft. Ellison was cited by the City of San Jose, California, for violating its limits on late-night takeoffs and landings from San Jose Mineta International Airport by planes weighing more than 75,000 pounds (34 019 kg). In January 2000, Ellison sued over the interpretation of the airport rule, contending that his "plane is certified by the manufacturer to fly at two weights: 75,000 pounds, and at 90,000 pounds, for heavier loads or long flights requiring more fuel. But the pilot only lands the plane in San Jose when it weighs 75,000 pounds or less, and has the logs to prove it..."^[33] U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled over the matter in June 2001, calling for a waiver for Ellison's jet, but did not invalidate the curfew.^[34]

[edit]Cars

Ellison owns many exotic cars, including an Audi R8, and a McLaren F1. His favorite is the Acura NSX, which he was known to give as gifts each year during its production.^[16] He is also reportedly the owner of a Lexus LFA and a Lexus LS600hL. ^[35]

[edit]Home

Ellison styled his estimated $70 million Woodside, California, estate after feudal Japanese architecture, complete with a man-made 2.3-acre (9,300 m²) lake and an extensive seismic retrofit (37°24′44.34″N 122°14′51.40″W).^[36] In 2004 and 2005, Ellison purchased more than 12 properties in Malibu, California, worth more than $180 million. The $65 million Ellison spent on five contiguous lots on Malibu's Carbon Beach was the most costly residential transaction in United States history until Ron Perelman sold his Palm Beach, Florida compound for $70 million later that same year.^[37] His entertainment system cost $1 million, and includes a rock concert-sized video projector at one end of a drained swimming pool, using the gaping hole as a giant subwoofer.^[38]

In early 2010 Ellison purchased the Astor's Beechwood Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island for $10.5 million. The property was the former summer home of the prominent Astor family.

In 2011 Ellison purchased the 249 acre Porcupine Creek Estate and private golf course in Rancho Mirage, CA for $42.9 million. The property was the former home of Yellowstone Club founders Edra and Tim Blixseth, sold to Ellison by creditors following their divorce and bankruptcy.

Amancio Ortega Gaona

Amancio Ortega
Born	Amancio Ortega Gaona March 28, 1936 (age 75) Busdongo de Arbas-Villamanín,Castille and León, Spain
Residence	A Coruña, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Co-founder of the Inditex group, World's #7 wealthiest person
Net worth	US$31 billion (2011)[1]
Board member of	Inditex (CEO)
Spouse	Rosalía Mera (divorced), Flora Pérez Marcote (2001-)
Children	Sandra Ortega Mera, Marcos Ortega Mera, Marta Ortega Pérez
Signature

Amancio Ortega Gaona (born March 28, 1936) is a Spanish fashion entrepreneur. He is the founder, along with his then-wife Rosalía Mera, and chairman of the Inditex Group. He is ranked by Forbes as Spain's richest man; Europe's second richest man; and the seventh richest man in the world in 2011 ^[2]. He currently lives with his second wife in a discreet apartment building in the centre of A Coruña.

Ortega arrived at A Coruña, Spain, at the age of 14, due to the job of his father, a railway worker. Starting as a gofer in various shirt stores in A Coruña, Galicia, in 1972 he founded Confecciones Goa (his initials in reverse), which made bathrobes. In 1975 he opened the first store in what would grow into the enormously popular chain of fashion stores called Zara. He owns 59.29% of the Inditex group (Industrias de Diseño Textil Sociedad Anónima) which includes the brandsZara, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Zara Home, Kiddy's Class, Tempe, Stradivarius, Pull and Bear/Often and Bershka and has more than 92,000 employees.^[3]

Ortega keeps a very low profile and there are practically no photographs of him (except from one photo published at the Inditex website). He refuses to wear a tie, and likes to dress in blue jeans and T-shirts. He is said to take a very active part in the production and design process in the company.

When he made a public appearance in 2000 - as part of the warm-up prior to floating his company on the stock market in 2001 - it made headlines in the Spanish financial press. However, he has never given an interview, and his secrecy has led to the publication of books such as Amancio Ortega: DE CERO A ZARA (From Zero to Zara).

Ortega, announced his imminent retirement from the fast-fashion giant Inditex, parent company of the Zara chain, stating that he will ask Inditex vice-president and CEO Pablo Isla to take his place at the helm of the textile empire.

Eike Batista

Eike Fuhrken Batista da Silva, more commonly Eike Batista (Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, Brazil, November 3, 1956), is a Brazilian business baron. He has founded companies in different business sectors, mainly in mining. He is the son of Eliezer Batista da Silva, a longtime head of mining company Vale. As of March 2011, he is the eighth richest person in the world.^[2]

Biography

Born in Brazil, Batista spent most of his childhood in Europe. He lived in Germany from 1969 to 1980, and began studying engineering there at Aachen University but dropped out of college without completing his degree. In 1980, he moved back to Brazil to begin a gold and trading company in the Amazon. Shortly after he joined Canadian mining firm TVX Gold, making and then losing a fortune, before finally selling his stake in the company for $1 billion in 2000. Afterward he reinvested in several businesses, including mining.^[3] A large portion of his wealth was made from OGX, an oil and gas exploration company founded in 2007.^[4] In 2010, he became the wealthiest person in Brazil, with an estimated fortune of US$27.0 billion, making him the fourth richest person living in the Americas and the eighth richest person in the world according to Forbes Magazine.^[1]

]Personal life

He married the famous Brazilian actress, Playboy cover girl, and carnival queen Luma de Oliveirain 1991 and had two children with her, Thor and Olin, before divorcing in 2004.^[5]

Batista is known for maintaining a high profile. He is outspoken about his target of becoming therichest person in the world.^[6] His donations often make headlines, as when he bid R$ 500,000 on a suit used by President Lula on inauguration day, with proceeds going to charity.^[7] Batista pledged to donate R$ 20 million yearly, for five years, to the Pacifying Police Unitprogram in Rio de Janeiro.^[8]

Batista is superstitious, with a particular fondness for the number 63, the Sun, and the letter X, that is featured in all his companies' names for its supposed money-attracting quality.^[6]

Batista's oil company OGX as created in 2007 and will start oil production in 2012; the first time a company has started oil production in such a short time.^{[citation needed]}

He and his older son Thor Batista love speed boats. Batista owns a 48 foot kevlar/carbon fiber made Catamaran with two 1600 horsepower twin-supercharged V8 engines. The boat is capable of reaching speeds of over 160 miles per hour