• Forbes compiled a list of the richest person in every state in 2025.
• Alaska, Delaware, and West Virginia are the only three states without billionaires.
• Four of the seven richest Americans live in California, with Mark Zuckerberg in the top spot.

The US is home to more billionaires than any other country. While it might be tempting to think they all congregate in California, New York, Florida, or Texas, these ultra-rich members of society can also be found in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, or Shelburne, Vermont — or dozens of other cities nationwide. In fact, there are billionaires in 47 states.

In May 2025, Forbes released a list of the wealthiest person in each state. With fortunes across industries like tech, retail, agriculture, and oil, these individuals have a combined net worth of $2 trillion, up a full $400 billion from last year.

Find out who's the richest person that calls your state home, according to Forbes' report. The estimated net worths below were accurate as of April 2025.

ALABAMA: Jimmy Rane

Net worth: $1.5 billion

Age: 78

Source of wealth: As the founder and CEO of Great Southern Wood Preserving, Rane helped popularize the lumber business by appearing in commercials as a cowboy known as "the Yella Fella."

Residence: Abbeville

ALASKA: Jonathan Rubini and family, Leonard Hyde and family

Net worth: $400 million, each

Age: Rubini is 70; Hyde is 68.

Source of wealth: Rubini serves as the CEO and chairman of commercial real-estate developer JL Properties, while Hyde serves as its president. Each of them owns 50% of the business, which also includes properties in Florida and Utah, Forbes reported.

Residence: Anchorage

ARIZONA: Ernest Garcia II

Net worth: $17.3 billion

Age: 67

Source of wealth: Ernest Garcia II owns the used car retailer DriveTime Automotive, the fourth-largest used car retailer in the US. He is also the largest shareholder of Carvana, an online used car dealer founded by his son, Ernest Garcia III, in 2012.

Residence: Tempe

ARKANSAS: Rob Walton and family

Net worth: $113 billion

Age: 80

Source of wealth: Rob Walton and his siblings inherited their wealth from their father, Sam Walton, who opened the first Walmart store in 1962 and founded the discount warehouse Sam's Club in 1983. Rob Walton, the eldest of the Walton siblings, is also one of the principal owners of the Denver Broncos.

Residence: Bentonville

CALIFORNIA: Mark Zuckerberg

Net worth: $189 billion

Age: 40

Source of wealth: As a student at Harvard, Zuckerberg cofounded a social network known as "The Facebook" in 2004. He went on to become CEO of Meta, the parent company for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.

Residence: Palo Alto

COLORADO: Philip Anschutz

Net worth: $16.9 billion

Age: 85

Source of wealth: Anschutz initially amassed his fortune through the discovery of an oil field on the Wyoming-Utah border in 1979 and subsequent investments in railroad companies. He founded Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) in 1994, which owns major sports teams and performance venues such as the Crypto.com Arena. AEG is also the parent company of the Coachella music festival.

Residence: Denver

CONNECTICUT: Steve Cohen

Net worth: $21.3 billion

Age: 68

Source of wealth: Cohen founded two hedge funds, SAC Capital and Point72. Until SAC Capital was shut down after pleading guilty to insider trading charges in 2013, it was one of the most successful hedge funds in the world (Cohen himself was never charged). Point72 currently manages over $35 billion, Forbes reported. He also holds a 95% ownership stake in the New York Mets.

A fun fact about Cohen: He loosely inspired Damien Lewis' "Billions" character, Bobby Axelrod.

Residence: Greenwich

DELAWARE: Elizabeth Snyder

Net worth: $800 million

Age: 77

Source of wealth: Snyder's parents founded WL Gore & Associates, a manufacturing company that holds over 7,000 patents, in 1958. Gore-Tex, a waterproof fabric used in outdoor apparel and shoes, remains its most profitable invention. Snyder owns around 5.5% of the company, Forbes reported.

Residence: Wilmington

FLORIDA: Jeff Bezos

Net worth: $206 billion

Age: 61

Source of wealth: Bezos founded e-commerce titan Amazon in 1994 and still owns around 9% of the company. As of May 2025, he was the third-richest person in the US behind Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. He's also the third-richest person in the world, just ahead of Larry Ellison.

Residence: Miami

GEORGIA: Bubba Cathy, Dan Cathy, and Trudy Cathy White

Net worth: $10.7 billion

Age: 71 (Bubba), 72 (Dan), and 69 (Trudy)

Source of wealth: The Cathys are heirs to the Chick-fil-A family fortune. Founded by their father, S. Truett Cathy, in the 1960s, the fried-chicken fast-food chain now has over 3,200 restaurant locations worldwide. Dan Cathy's son, Andrew Cathy, took over as CEO in 2021. Dan Cathy's brother, Bubba Cathy, is still the executive vice president.

Residence: Atlanta (Bubba and Don), Hampton (Trudy)

HAWAII: Pierre Omidyar

Net worth: $10 billion

Age: 57

Source of wealth: Omidyar founded eBay in 1995 and became a billionaire when the e-commerce company went public during the dot-com bubble in 1998. eBay also acquired PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion.

Residence: Honolulu

IDAHO: Frank VanderSloot

Net worth: $3.2 billion

Age: 76

Source of wealth: VanderSloot is the founder and former chief executive of Melaleuca, Inc., which sells nutritional and wellness products online. Forbes reported that the company now has over one million customers each month.

Residence: Idaho Falls

ILLINOIS: Lukas Walton

Net worth: $39 billion

Age: 38

Source of wealth: Lukas Walton is the billionaire heir to the Walmart fortune and the grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Lukas Walton inherited his vast wealth after his father, John T. Walton, died in a plane crash in 2005 at the age of 58.

He founded Builders Vision, an impact investing group, in 2021, and also chairs the Walton Family Foundation's environment program committee.

Residence: Chicago

INDIANA: Carl Cook

Net worth: $9.9 billion

Age: 62

Source of wealth: Cook has served as CEO of Cook Group, a medical-device manufacturing company founded by his parents, since his father's death in 2011. Forbes reported the company made $2.4 billion in revenue in 2024.

Residence: Bloomington

IOWA: Harry Stine

Net worth: $10.2 billion

Age: 83

Source of wealth: Stine is an agricultural pioneer and the founder and owner of Stine Seed, a corn and soybean seed company based in Adel, Iowa.

According to the company's website, Stine Seed and its affiliates own around 800 patents related to soybean and corn genetic technology. Major licensing deals have helped it become one of the world's largest private seed companies.

Residence: Adel

KANSAS: Charles Koch and family

Net worth: $67.5 billion

Age: 89

Source of wealth: Koch amassed his billions from serving as co-CEO of Koch, Inc., which produces around $125 billion in revenue each year, Forbes reported.

Founded in 1940 by his father, Fred Koch, Koch Industries — later shortened to Koch — is involved in various businesses, from oil pipelines to paper goods, and is the second-largest private company in the US.

Residence: Wichita

KENTUCKY: Tamara Gustavson

Net worth: $8.1 billion

Age: 63

Source of wealth: Gustavson made her billions as the heiress to the Public Storage empire and as a prize-winning horse breeder. Her father, B. Wayne Hughes, cofounded Public Storage, a self-storage company that now owns and operates thousands of locations across the US and Europe, in 1972.

Forbes reported that Gustavson owns about 10% of the company.

Residence: Lexington

LOUISIANA: Todd Graves

Net worth: $17.2 billion

Age: 53

Source of wealth: Graves, the founder and CEO of the chicken-tender restaurant chain Raising Cane's, opened his first restaurant in 1996. The company now has nearly 900 restaurants in the US and made $5.1 billion in annual sales in 2024, Forbes reported.

Residence: Baton Rouge

MAINE: Susan Alfond

Net worth: $3.7 billion

Age: 79

Source of wealth: Alfond's father, Harold Alfond, made a fortune as the founder of the Dexter Shoe Company, once one of the largest shoe manufacturers in the US. Forbes reported that he sold the company to Warren Buffett in 1993 for $420 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock.

Harold Alfond died in 2007, leaving his fortune to Susan Alfond and her three siblings.

Residence: Scarborough

MARYLAND: Annette Lerner and family

Net worth: $5.5 billion

Age: 95

Source of wealth: Lerner's fortune grew after she loaned $250 to her husband, Ted Lerner, to establish a firm that sold homes to real-estate developers, Forbes reported.

Founded in 1952, it grew to become one of the most successful real-estate companies in the DC area. The Lerners also made their money as owners of the Washington Nationals baseball team.

Residence: Chevy Chase

MASSACHUSETTS: Abigail Johnson

Net worth: $31.5 billion

Age: 63

Source of wealth: Johnson is the chair and CEO of Fidelity Investments — which her grandfather founded — and holds an estimated 28.5% ownership in the company. The Financial Times called her the "quiet queen of American finance" for the way she grew her father's and grandfather's business while staying incredibly private.

Residence: Milton

MICHIGAN: Daniel Gilbert

Net worth: $23.7 billion

Age: 63

Source of wealth: Gilbert is the founder and chairman of Rocket Companies, formerly known as Quicken Loans. From 2013 to 2018, under Gilbert's leadership, the company closed nearly half a trillion in home loans, according to the Gilbert Family Foundation. He also owns the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.

Residence: Franklin

MINNESOTA: Glen Taylor

Net worth: $2.9 billion

Age: 84

Source of wealth: Taylor purchased Carlson Letter Service, a wedding stationery business that he worked for while attending college, in 1975, according to the company's website. It became the Taylor Corporation, a print services and communications company. A former state senator, he's also owned several sports teams.

Residence: Mankato

MISSISSIPPI: Thomas and James Duff

Net worth: $3 billion

Age: 68 and 64

Source of wealth: The Duff brothers' wealth originates from their family business: tires. Their father, Ernest, founded Southern Tire Mart in the '70s and sold it in 1998. James and Thomas bought it back in 2003 and then cofounded Duff Capital Investors, a holding company, in 2007. Forbes reported it now brings in $5 billion in revenue across over 20 businesses.

Residence: Hattiesburg

MISSOURI: David Steward

Net worth: $11.4 billion

Age: 73

Source of wealth: In 1990, David Steward cofounded IT provider World Wide Technology, which Forbes valued at $20 billion in sales. Citi, Verizon, and the federal government are a few of the company's clients. An avid fan of car racing, Steward has pushed for more diversity in NASCAR, according to his company bio. In 2018, WWT began sponsoring Bubba Wallace, one of the few Black drivers in the racing organization's history.

Residence: St. Louis

MONTANA: Dennis Washington

Net worth: $7.4 billion

Age: 90

Source of wealth: Washington owns a business group called Washington Companies, which is involved in mining, rail and marine transportation, and construction. He's also invested in his son Kyle's ship business, Seaspan ULC.

Residence: Missoula

NEBRASKA: Warren Buffett

Net worth: $165 billion

Age: 94

Source of wealth: Buffett is one of the best-known and most successful investors of all time. He's made his fortune via Berkshire Hathaway, which owns brands such as Geico, Dairy Queen, and Duracell. Despite his immense wealth, he's also known for his modest spending habits. Recently, he announced he'll retire at the end of 2025.

Residence: Omaha

NEVADA: Miriam Adelson and family

Net worth: $28.6 billion

Age: 79

Source of wealth: Miriam Adelson is on the list after the 2021 death of her husband, casino magnate and major Republican donor Sheldon Adelson. Now, she and her family own over 50% of Las Vegas Sands, a casino company worth over $39 billion. In 2023, she became a majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, a title formerly held by Mark Cuban. She's also been a major donor to Donald Trump.

Residence: Las Vegas

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Rick Cohen and family

Net worth: $11.5 billion

Age: 72

Source of wealth: Most of Cohen's familial wealth comes from Symbotic, a warehouse automation company that has partnered with Walmart. Cohen is the chairman and CEO. In addition, Cohen also owns the US' largest grocery wholesaler, C&S Wholesale Grocers, which brings in $33 billion annually, Forbes reported. In 2024, his net worth plunged by $9 billion due to his family's stake in Symbotic, when the company's stocks tanked.

Residence: Keene

NEW JERSEY: John Overdeck

Net worth: $7.4 billion

Age: 55

Source of wealth: Two Sigma, a $60 billion hedge fund, which Overdeck cofounded, is the source of his wealth. He and David Siegel stepped down as co-CEOs last year, amid a long-term dispute over managing the firm. In high school, he won a silver medal in the International Mathematics Olympiad, and now he serves as chair for the National Museum of Mathematics.

Residence: Millburn

NEW MEXICO: Ron Corio

Net worth: $1.7 billion

Age: 63

Source of wealth: Corio's billionaire status — the first in New Mexico — stems from Array Technologies, a solar tracking systems business. He is the founder and former CEO, resigning in 2020 before its IPO.

Residence: Albuquerque

NEW YORK: Michael Bloomberg

Net worth: $105 billion

Age: 83

Source of wealth: What hasn't Bloomberg done? Besides his 12-year stint as the mayor of New York City and an unsuccessful presidential campaign, Bloomberg cofounded Bloomberg LP in 1981. Bloomberg is a media company and a financial firm with revenues of $13.3 billion, as reported by Forbes.

Residence: New York

NORTH CAROLINA: James Goodnight

Net worth: $9.8 billion

Age: 82

Source of wealth: Goodnight and his colleague John Sall (also a billionaire) cofounded a private school, Cary Academy, and also co-own a hotel and country club. But their biggest business venture together is the software company SAS, founded in 1976. It made over $3 billion in sales in 2024, according to the company's 2024 annual report.

Residence: Cary

NORTH DAKOTA: Gary Tharaldson

Net worth: $1.2 billion

Age: 79

Source of wealth: Tharaldson, the only billionaire in North Dakota, got his start in 1982 when Tharaldson Hospitality purchased a Super 8 Motel. It then became a huge hospitality group and one of America's largest developers of new hotels.

Residence: Fargo

OHIO: Les Wexner and family

Net worth: $7.8 billion

Age: 87

Source of wealth: Wexner opened The Limited in Ohio in the 1960s. He then founded a retail empire that, at one point, owned brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, The Limited Too, Express, and Victoria's Secret. Now Wexner's company has been renamed Bath & Body Works Inc., and solely owns the chain of the same name.

Residence: New Albany

OKLAHOMA: Harold Hamm and family

Net worth: $18.5 billion

Age: 79

Source of wealth: Hamm founded the Shelly Dean Oil Company, now known as Continental Resources, in 1967 when he was only 21. It's now one of the largest oil companies in the US, thanks in part to Hamm's decision to use horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Bakken region of North Dakota in the '90s. The company went public in 2007, but in 2022, Hamm and his five children took the company private again in a deal worth $27 billion.

Residence: Oklahoma City

OREGON: Phil Knight and family

Net worth: $29 billion

Age: 87

Source of wealth: One word: Nike. Knight cofounded the iconic brand in 1964 alongside Bill Bowerman. Although Knight retired in 2016, he and his family still own 20% of the company, which, in 2024, earned $51 billion in fiscal revenue, per Forbes.

Residence: Hillsboro

PENNSYLVANIA: Jeff Yass

Net worth: $59 billion

Age: 66

Source of wealth: After spending time as a pro gambler and trader on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Yass cofounded Susquehanna International Group in 1987. The successful Wall Street trading firm has a 15% stake in ByteDance, TikTok's parent company. NBC reported in 2024 that Yass also has a personal share (7%) of ByteDance.

Residence: Haverford

RHODE ISLAND: Jonathan Nelson

Net worth: $3.4 billion

Age: 68

Source of wealth: In 1989, Nelson founded and led the private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. He was CEO until January 2021 and is now its executive chairman. The firm has invested in over 180 companies, including Hulu, Warner Media Group, and Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES).

Residence: Providence

SOUTH CAROLINA: Robert Faith

Net worth: $5 billion

Age: 61

Source of wealth: Robert "Bob" Faith founded Greystar, a global real estate firm, in 1993 and continues to serve as chairman and CEO. Throughout his career, Faith grew Greystar from 9,000 units in the US to more than a million units across five continents, worth more than $315 billion, the company reported in a March press release. The company also has an investment management platform with $36 billion in assets under development.

Residence: Charleston

SOUTH DAKOTA: T. Denny Sanford

Net worth: $2.1 billion

Age: 89

Source of wealth: The University of Minnesota alum made his fortune as the owner of First Premier Bank. Despite having just 17 branches across South Dakota, the bank is one of the largest issuers of Mastercards, in part because it specializes in offering credit cards to those with low credit scores. Often, the cards have low limits and high interest rates.

Residence: Sioux Falls

TENNESSEE: Thomas Frist Jr. and family

Net worth: $26.8 billion

Age: 86

Source of wealth: Frist Jr. cofounded Hospital Corp. of America with his father in 1968. According to its website, the for-profit healthcare company is responsible for 186 hospitals and over 2,400 care sites (like urgent care centers, surgery clinics, and physician clinics) across the US and UK. He and his family own over 20% of the company, and his sons, Thomas Frist III and William Frist, are board members.

Residence: Nashville

TEXAS: Elon Musk

Net worth: $388 billion

Age: 53

Source of wealth: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are in a continuous battle for the title of richest person in the US. Musk is CEO of Tesla, CEO and founder of SpaceX, and the founder of neurotechnology startup Neuralink and tunneling company The Boring Company. He also helped found OpenAI, but he left in 2018 and announced his own AI endeavor, xAI, in 2023, which he owns an estimated 54% of, according to Forbes. He also owns an estimated 74% of social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Residence: Austin

UTAH: Gail Miller

Net worth: $4.4 billion

Age: 81

Source of wealth: Miller owns the Larry H. Miller Company, which she founded with her husband, Larry H. Miller, in 1979 after purchasing their first Toyota dealership. The LHM Company's car dealership business became the eighth-largest in the US, and she sold it for $3.2 billion in 2021, Forbes reported. (Larry H. Miller died in 2009.) LHM's portfolio also includes companies in real estate, entertainment, sports, and insurance, among others. In 2020, after more than 30 years of owning the Utah Jazz, Miller sold the team and their home arena for $1.66 billion.

Residence: Salt Lake City

VERMONT: John Abele

Net worth: $2 billion

Age: 88

Source of wealth: In 1979, Abele cofounded Boston Scientific, a medical device manufacturer, alongside Peter Nicholas. Boston Scientific focuses on developing more accessible medical technologies, and its products include pacemakers, defibrillators, and stents.

Residence: Shelburne

VIRGINIA: Jacqueline Mars

Net worth: $39 billion

Age: 85

Source of wealth: As the granddaughter of Mars Incorporated founder Frank C. Mars, Jacqueline owns an estimated one-third of the legendary candy, food, and pet-care company responsible for treats like Snickers, Juicy Fruit, and Milky Way. (Her brother owns another third and is the richest person in Wyoming, per Forbes.) She served on the board of directors until 2016, having spent nearly 20 years with the company.

Residence: The Plains

WASHINGTON: Steve Ballmer

Net worth: $118 billion

Age: 69

Source of wealth: Bill Gates hired Ballmer as Microsoft's 30th employee in 1980. Ballmer went on to serve as the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. After retiring, he bought the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion and donated millions to the University of Oregon.

Residence: Hunts Point

WEST VIRGINIA: Brad Smith

Net worth: $900 million

Age: 61

Source of wealth: During Smith's time as CEO and then executive chairman of the finance and business software company Intuit, the company's revenue almost doubled, Forbes reported. The success came after Intuit revamped its desktop software into a digital cloud-based platform. Now the president of Marshall University, he also chairs Nordstrom's board of directors and sits on the boards of Amazon and JPMorgan Chase.

Residence: Huntington

WISCONSIN: Diane Hendricks

Net worth: $21.9 billion

Age: 78

Source of wealth: Hendricks earned her billionaire status as the cofounder of ABC Supply, the largest roofing wholesaler in the US, with her late husband Ken Hendricks. Founded in 1982, ABC Supply acquired the building materials distributors Bradco in 2010 and L&W Supply in 2016 with Hendricks at the helm.

Residence: Afton

WYOMING: John Mars

Net worth: $39 billion

Age: 89

Source of wealth: Mars — whose sister is Jacqueline Mars, Virginia's richest person — is another heir of the Mars family fortune amassed from candy products such as Snickers, Mars Bars, and M&M's, as well as Pedigree pet food and Uncle Ben's rice. He owns a third of the $45 billion business.

Residence: Jackson

• Warren Buffett's retirement bombshell combined careful planning with dramatic flair.
• The Berkshire Hathaway CEO revealed last Saturday that he intends to resign at the end of the year.
• Buffett, 94, prepared for a smooth transition — but announced it with a bang.

Warren Buffett just delivered a masterclass in succession planning with his own theatrical flourish, balancing his desire for a smooth departure and his taste for high drama.

The famed investor shocked the world on Saturday when he told a stadium packed with Berkshire Hathaway shareholders that he planned to step down as CEO at the end of this year, making way for his hand-picked successor, Greg Abel.

Years in the making

The "Oracle of Omaha" has been preparing his shareholders for his retirement as CEO for a long time.

He's frequently underlined his advanced age in shareholder letters and interviews. He's also talked up Abel's management prowess and central role in running Berkshire, and even compared him to his late business partner, Charlie Munger.

"At 94, it won't be long before Greg Abel replaces me as CEO and will be writing the annual letters," Buffett wrote in this year's missive. He said that in the rare moments when bargains abound, Abel has "vividly shown his ability to act at such times as did Charlie."

Buffett has built a team to replace him that includes Abel, insurance chief Ajit Jain, investment managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, and his son Howard. His job will be to preserve Berkshire's culture as chairman once Buffett is no longer around.

The billionaire philanthropist has also detailed that upon his death, his Berkshire stock will be placed in a trust for his children to allocate toward good causes. The move should help prevent an activist investor scooping up his shares once he's gone and seeking to dismantle the company he built.

Successful leaders prepare their companies for when they step down, Bret Bero, an assistant professor of practice in management at Babson College, told Business Insider.

Buffett has done plenty to prepare for this transition, but ultimately its "success will be measured" by how Berkshire performs under Abel, Bero said.

Softening the blow

Buffett knew his resignation news could spook investors — Berkshire stock fell 5% on Monday — so he took pains to reassure his shareholders.

He plans to remain CEO until the new year, and continue as Berkshire's chairman beyond that, indicating he'll still be overseeing Berkshire and guiding Abel for a while yet.

Buffett pledged not to sell a single share of his near-14% stake in Berkshire, a position worth more than $160 billion. He championed Abel in the process, describing the move as an "economic decision" because he expected the company to fare better under his successor.

Spilling the beans on his retirement to stockholders without first telling Abel or Berkshire's board (apart from two of his children who are directors) also sent the message that he truly values their trust in him and acts in their interests.

"It's basically a thank you to all those long-time shareholders who have stuck with the company," Jason Schloetzer, an associate professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, told BI.

Zooming out, Buffett may have felt that personally selecting Abel to succeed him would help win over Berkshire shareholders. That approach eschewed the corporate norm of hiring a consulting firm to search the world for external candidates, said Larry Cunningham. He is the director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center on Corporate Governance and the author of several books about Buffett and Berkshire.

"Here we have an excellent succession plan created by deep and long thought," he told BI, adding that the "best practice for one company is not the best practice for all."

Putting on a show

Buffett may have readied Berkshire shareholders for his retirement, but he couldn't resist breaking the news in dramatic style.

He kept the decision a secret, giving no advance warning to either non-family board members or Abel, who sat next to him on stage. That limited the risk his big surprise would be leaked or spoiled and ensured it had maximum impact.

He fielded questions for nearly five hours before dropping the bombshell in his closing comments and leaving to a standing ovation, throwing out the planned agenda. That made it the climax of his Q&A session and the entire weekend.

Keeping tight-lipped avoided "speculation or fanfare" beforehand, freeing Buffett to focus on answering questions and to "enjoy the engagement with shareholders without the succession overhang," Macrae Sykes, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, told BI.

"He has always created great, positive Berkshire theatre and this deserved another Oscar as well as consideration for a lifetime award," Sykes added.

Buffett is a "great showman," Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University who's been teaching Buffett-style valuation for decades, told BI.

"He knows that either you run the show or the show runs you," Hanke said, nodding to the fact that if Buffett had let slip the news early, the crowd reaction and media frenzy would have overwhelmed anything he said afterward.

Schloetzer also hailed Buffett's icon status and marketing flair, saying that a "unique leader gets to design his surprise finale."

"No Form 8-K or email blast could pull off such a memorable moment," he added.

• The 2025 Met Gala took place in New York City on Monday.
• Billionaires pulled up to the year's biggest fashion event in tailored, monochrome outfits.
• Here are our picks for the best — and worst — billionaire outfits this year.

The Met Gala, arguably the biggest fashion event of the year, took place on Monday, and its A-list guests came dressed to impress.

Several billionaires attended the annual fundraiser event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

This year's theme was "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," and the dress code was "Tailored for You."

In a sea of menswear-inspired outfits, some attendees stood out for the right — and wrong — reasons.

Here are the outfits we thought nailed the theme, and those that missed the mark.

Best: Grace Murdoch and Wendi Murdoch

Wendi Murdoch, entrepreneur and ex-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, dazzled at the Met Gala with her daughter, Grace. They both wore fitted white ensembles.

Wendi's two-piece set featured gold embroidery and a high collar reminiscent of a Chinese Qipao. She completed the look with white lace-up boots, a white bag, and a gold headpiece.

Grace's look was simpler — a tight-fitted blazer-top, a pleated skirt, a feather brooch, and a white handbag.

Worst: Gustav Wizoe

Norwegian billionaire Gustav Witzoe arrived in an all-white ensemble and a clear briefcase that appeared to be filled with rose petals.

The sheer blazer-cape hybrid trailed behind him, and his look was topped off with accessories, including a white cowboy hat, boots, and gold jewelry.

The outfit looked a tad more whimsical than we would have liked.

Best and worst: Mo Pritzker (best) and John A. Pritzker (worst)

Billionaire investor John A. Pritzker and his wife, Mo Pritzker, arrived in matching full-black outfits.

John Pritzker's ultra-simple black tuxedo and tie combination seemed out of place at the fashion-forward Met.

He was also thoroughly overshadowed by Mo Pritzker, who wore a long, bedazzled blazer paired with a flared black tulle skirt.

Best and Worst: Mellody Hobson (best), George Lucas (worst)

Filmmaker and philanthropist billionaire George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, chairman of Starbucks' board of directors, came to the gala in vastly different suits.

Hobson's gray tweed suit sparkled as she walked, and she was blinged out with bejeweled brooches and chains.

Her husband, however, kept it as simple as possible in a no-frills navy-blue suit, which would look more at home on Wall Street than at the Met.

Worst: Kim Kardashian

Businesswoman and media personality Kim Kardashian stuck to her wardrobe of tight-fitting pieces. She also kept to her usual corseted silhouette, which she has sported at almost every Met Gala of late.

She wore a leather-textured two-piece set. The top had a low-cut sweetheart neckline and a corset shape, and featured an open back secured with a belt clasp.

She accessorized with diamond necklaces, earrings, chains, and rings, and sported a black top hat.

The outfit fit the theme, but felt unimaginative.

Worst: Tory Burch

Billionaire designer Tory Burch wore a simple white maxi dress to this year's gala. She layered it with black beaded chains, which gave the outfit a spiderweb-esque look.

She kept the rest of the outfit simple with a black and white handbag and diamond earrings.

The outfit did not lean into the "tailored" theme too heavily.

Worst: Anthony Pratt

Australian billionaire businessman Anthony Pratt was a sight to behold, standing out from the mass of black and white-clad crowd in his funky bright green suit.

The suit had the reuse-reduce-recycling logo stamped all over it. He accessorized it with a dark green bowler hat and a walking cane.

Our biggest qualm was the running shoes he wore under the suit.

• The Met Gala always welcomes billionaires like Kim Kardashian, Jeff Bezos, and Rihanna.
• Some of those wealthy attendees have worn iconic, fashionable looks on the red carpet.
• But others have missed the mark with their simple outfits.

What would the Met Gala be without billionaires?

Each year, celebrities, athletes, business people, and more convene on the Metropolitan Museum of Art steps to enter the glamorous ball, which raises money for the Costume Institute.

Many of those attendees also happen to have fortunes totaling billions of dollars. There's Kim Kardashian, Jeff Bezos, and Rihanna, just to name a few.

Here's a look at some of the best looks those wealthy Met Gala guests have worn over the years, as well as a few that could have been better.

Kim Kardashian wore a jaw-dropping minidress in 2019 that remains one of her best Met Gala looks to date.

Thierry Mugler designed the button-up piece, which matched her skin tone to create a nude effect.

Clear crystals that resembled water droplets worked with the garment's cinched bodice fabric, see-through long sleeves, and Kardashian's slick hairstyle to create the illusion she had just taken a plunge in water.

But in typical Kardashian fashion, the outfit wasn't without controversy.

The TV star and businesswoman, who Forbes estimates is worth $1.7 billion, revealed she took corset breathing lessons to wear it and didn't go to the bathroom during the event.

Jeff Bezos ignored the 2019 "Camp: Notes on Fashion" theme entirely.

The Amazon founder, who has an estimated $204 billion fortune, walked the red carpet that year in a classic Tom Ford tuxedo. It featured a black jacket with satin lapels, straight trousers, a white button-up shirt, and a black bow tie.

The suit was sharp and elegant but failed to embody the out-of-the-box, playful styles of camp fashion.

It was especially apparent when the businessman stood next to stars like Kendall Jenner and Jared Leto, who wore dramatic, almost surreal pieces.

Rihanna's papal-inspired ensemble in 2018 has become one of the most iconic Met Gala looks in history.

The musician and Fenty makeup mogul, who is worth $1.4 billion, stepped onto the carpet in a beaded set designed by John Galliano for Maison Margiela.

It consisted of a massive coat that matched its pearl-encrusted minidress, a wrap skirt with pleats, and a pointed headdress that resembled those worn by the Pope.

The designer pieces were not only works of art but also perfectly complemented the night's theme, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination."

Elon Musk failed to stand out that year in a black-and-white suit.

The Tesla CEO has an estimated fortune of $386 billion, so it would have made sense to see him walk the Met Gala red carpet in an extravagant designer outfit.

But instead, he sported an understated cream-colored blazer over a white top with a black neckline. He also wore plain trousers and shining dress shoes.

There was one interesting feature of his outfit: the phrase "novus ordo seclorum," which translates from Latin to "new world order," written across the back of his jacket.

But because it was stitched in white, the words were barely noticeable.

Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia nailed the 2023 theme.

Guests of the 2023 Met Gala were instructed to dress "in honor of Karl" — Karl Lagerfeld, the longtime fashion creative who worked for Fendi, Balmain, Chloé, and most famously, Chanel, before his death in 2019.

And Gebbia did just that. Mirroring Lagerfeld's signature black-and-white aesthetic, the Airbnb cofounder — who Forbes estimates is worth $7.9 billion — sported a black tuxedo embellished from top to bottom with crystal flowers.

The ensemble stood out from other menswear on the red carpet and was the ideal complement to Isabelle Boemeke's black Bode dress.

Norwegian shareholder Gustav Magnar Witzøe took a fashion risk that missed the mark.

Witzøe, whose net worth is around $3.2 billion, is one of the world's youngest billionaires and one of the most stylish.

But the black-and-white striped Palomo suit he wore to the 2023 Met Gala wasn't his best fashion choice. Its structured jacket had a unique bodice that bubbled at the hips.

But because it was paired with pants that were just a bit too long, the outfit looked more clunky than stylish.

Jay-Z looked dapper at the 2014 Met Gala alongside Beyoncé.

The 2014 Met Gala honored designer Charles James and his impact on women's fashion. So it made sense that year for the rapper and businessman, whose net worth is $2.5 billion, to take a step back with his look.

He wore black dress pants, shining shoes, and a white jacket that was the exact same shade as his undershirt. He completed the outfit with a black bow tie.

Not only was his suit sharp, but it also allowed Beyoncé to shine in her Givenchy gown.

Tiger Woods kept things too simple in 2013.

The golf legend is now a billionaire — according to Forbes, his net worth is $1.3 billion as of May 2024. But years before reaching that status, he walked the Met Gala red carpet with his then-girlfriend and Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn.

Unfortunately, the outfit he wore that year hasn't stood the test of time. Plain suits aren't exactly memorable when it comes to Met Gala fashion, and Wood's version almost looked too big on him.

A similar suit in a different color and with better tailoring could have made all the difference.

• Warren Buffett plans to resign as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after 55 years in charge.
• The investor, 94, said he plans to make way for his planned successor, Greg Abel, at the end of the year.
• Buffett grew Berkshire from a failing textile mill into a $1 trillion company, enriching investors.

Warren Buffett intends to step down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after 55 years, ending his tenure as the longest-serving chief executive of an S&P 500 company.

The legendary investor announced he would recommend to Berkshire's board that he resign as CEO at the end of this year. He broke the news to a stadium full of his shareholders during Berkshire's annual meeting in Omaha on Saturday. The crowd gave Buffett two standing ovations and recognized his many years of service with thunderous applause.

"The enthusiasm shown by this response can be interpreted in two ways," Buffett joked, before adding, "Thank you."

If Buffett gets his way, Greg Abel, the head of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses, will be in charge of the conglomerate in the new year.

"Abel is in a wonderful and difficult position. It's easier to follow Bruce Springsteen on stage than to follow Buffett," Erik Gordon, an entrepreneurship professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, told BI in an email.

Buffett, 94, purchased Berkshire when it was a failing New England textile mill in 1965. Over the past six decades, he's grown it into a $1 trillion conglomerate that owns scores of businesses, including Geico, See's Candies, and the BNSF Railway, and holds multibillion-dollar stakes in Coca-Cola, American Express, and other public companies.

The "Oracle of Omaha" oversaw a roughly 5,500,000% gain in Berkshire's Class A stock between 1965 and 2024, compared to around 39,000% for the S&P 500 as a whole. Berkshire shares compounded in value by an average of 19.9% annually for that period, more than double the benchmark's 10.4% gain.

The ballooning stock price has made Buffett phenomenally wealthy. Even after giving more than half of his shares to good causes, he now ranks as the world's fifth-richest person with a $169 billion net worth.

Buffett is leaving the CEO role on a high note. Berkshire stock has soared 20% this year to record levels, trouncing the S&P's 3% decline. Investors are banking on Buffett's steady hand to guide them through the market and economic turmoil stirred up by President Donald Trump's tariffs. They're also betting on perhaps the world's foremost bargain hunter to pounce on any bargain stocks and businesses that emerge, as he famously did during the 2008 financial crisis.

Once Buffett vacates his chair, Abel will have the unenviable task of succeeding one of the great business leaders in American history, who has become virtually synonymous with his company. He can expect intense scrutiny of his decisions from all corners, and endless comparisons to a predecessor who ruled the roost for nearly six decades.

Buffett will be remembered as a CEO for building one of the world's most valuable companies, creating tremendous wealth for his investors, nurturing a unique shareholder culture centered on long-term ownership, and inspiring legions of investors and executives with his lessons on investing, business, management, and life.

This is a developing story, check back for more updates…

• Warren Buffett will host a nearly five-hour Q&A at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting this weekend.
• More than a dozen of Buffett's close followers told BI the burning questions they hope he'll answer.
• They're eager for him to speak about tariffs, Berkshire's cash pile, and retirement plans.

Warren Buffett kept quiet when stocks tumbled. On Saturday, the famed investor will break his silence with nearly five hours of questions at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting.

The $1 trillion conglomerate, which Buffett still heads at 94, owns many businesses, including auto insurer Geico and the BNSF Railway, and holds billion-dollar stakes in public companies such as Apple and Coca-Cola. If it's affecting the US economy, it's affecting Berkshire. That, combined with Buffett's decades of investing experience, will have tens of thousands of followers hanging off his every word during the event in his hometown of Omaha.

More than a dozen of Buffett's close followers told Business Insider the burning questions they want him to answer, from tariff impacts and Berkshire's cash pile to his retirement plans and Apple disposals.

Trade war fallout

Tariffs have reignited investors' fears of inflation and recession, sparking an exodus from US stocks, Treasurys, and the dollar in recent weeks.

"I'd like to hear how the tariffs are affecting Berkshire's businesses now, and how they may affect the businesses in the future," Steven Check, the CEO of Check Capital Management, told BI. He also wanted to hear Buffett's views on tariffs from a global perspective.

Adam Mead, the author of " The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway " and a money manager, told BI that Trump's tariffs "might change the calculus" for Berkshire's solar projects, adding they likely source many of their panels and equipment from overseas.

Adam Schwartz, the founder and chief investor of Black Bear Value Partners, told BI he hoped Buffett would address tariffs and advise investors on protecting their portfolios.

Schwartz said, "Does he view the tariff policy as a structural change in the environment, and how do you handicap the downside?"

John Longo — a finance professor, investment chief, and the author of "Buffett's Tips: A Guide to Financial Literacy and Life" — told BI he hoped Buffett would say whether he still thinks the US trade deficit is an urgent problem as he argued in a Fortune article in 2003.

Spending plans

Buffett nearly doubled Berkshire's pile of cash, Treasury bills, and other liquid assets to a record $334 billion last year, partly by selling a net $134 billion of stocks and halting share buybacks in the second half.

His followers want to know what he plans to do with that war chest, which exceeds Coca-Cola's entire market value. He could use the dry powder to make a blockbuster acquisition, scoop up stocks, reinstate share purchases, or even pay a dividend.

"Why is he amassing this huge cash position, and where would the stock market need to fall for him to write 'Buy American. I Am.' like he did in the fall of 2008?" asked Bill Smead, the founder and chief investor of Smead Capital Management.

Smead was referring to Buffett's famous New York Times op-ed at the height of the financial crisis, in which he urged others to join him in making long-term bets on American businesses.

Alex Morris, the author of "Buffett and Munger Unscripted" and the founder of investment research service TSOH, told BI he was "curious" to hear whether Buffett still believes Berkshire should have a minimum of $30 billion in cash reserves, and what "the largest deal they could do today" would be.

Buffett's acolytes are also waiting impatiently to learn whether the legendary bargain hunter capitalized on the recent stock plunge.

"Has Berkshire been investing its cash after the sharp market decline in April?" asked David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland and longtime Buffett blogger.

Signature stocks

Berkshire sold 67% of its biggest stock position, Apple, in the first nine months of 2024. But it left the remaining 300 million shares intact in the fourth quarter, even though the iPhone maker's stock traded higher than it did earlier in the year.

That raises a roughly "$60 billion question of why not sell the whole position?" Mead told BI. "It's a bit perplexing."

Darren Pollock, a portfolio manager at Cheviot Value Management, also queried the remaining Apple stake. The stock is down around 12.5% year-to-date.

"He's Warren Buffett, he obviously has a thoughtful rationale, and I'd love to hear it," Pollock told BI.

Berkshire businesses

Buffett often sheds light on Berkshire's myriad subsidiaries during his annual Q&A.

"I always enjoy the color provided on the key businesses," Paul Lountzis, the president of Lountzis Asset Management, told BI. He reeled off Geico, the overall insurance division, the BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Berkshire's manufacturing and retailing segments.

Several followers said they hoped Buffett would compare Geico, the revitalized auto insurer, to its archrival Progressive on profitability, market share, and underwriting expenses.

Mead said he wanted to know why Berkshire valued energy giant BHE below $50 billion in a deal last year to buy a minority interest from his late friend Walter Scott's estate, despite valuing it closer to $90 billion when Berkshire purchased non-insurance chief Greg Abel's stake in 2022.

"Is BHE really worth that much less today compared to then, or was that a quirk in the purchase agreement with the Scott estate?" Mead asked.

Winding down

At 94, Buffett has been detailing his estate planning and championing his planned successor, Abel, in his recent letters to shareholders. Kass told BI he'd like to know whether Buffett plans to resign as CEO in the near future.

Others said they were hungry for insights into how Abel would run the company.

Lawrence Cunningham, the author of numerous books about Berkshire and the director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center on Corporate Governance, told BI he wanted to hear from Abel, "particularly his vision for Berkshire's future and how he plans to uphold the company's core values and strategic direction."

Luke Rahbari, the CEO of Equity Armor Investments, told BI he was eager for Abel to elaborate on how he'll "approach capital allocation, including stock picking and acquisitions, and how might his leadership style differ from Buffett's?"

Morris referred to how Buffett urged the US government in his latest shareholder letter to use Berkshire's record tax payment to help the less fortunate.

"Relative to current US policies, what does Warren believe would be the most effective additional way to take care of the people who got the short straws?" he asked.

Brett Gardner, an analyst and the author of the recently released "Buffett's Early Investments," told BI he's crossing his fingers that the Berkshire chief will be asked about some of his findings: such as whether an early bet, Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, was an "inspiration for Berkshire," and details on how Buffett analyzed the corporate governance risks attached to buying 5% of Disney in 1966.

"Selfishly, I am hoping he gets some questions on my book!" Gardner added.

Brian Gongol, a Buffett superfan who's been a shareholder since 2007, told BI his question was inspired by Buffett's oft-repeated advice: "Invest in yourself."

"I'd like to know what he thinks was Berkshire's best reinvestment in itself, whether it took place this past year or simply bore fruit in the last year," he said.

• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will host its famous meeting this weekend.
• The colorful event, featuring a long Q&A with the investor, has been dubbed "Woodstock for capitalists."
• BI spoke to seven Berkshire gurus about why they're attending this year.

Tens of thousands of investors, from hedge fund managers and tech executives to students and retirees, will soon descend on Omaha to hear from the patron saint of level-headed investing.

Warren Buffett, 94, is riding high after cashing in $158 billion of stocks over the last two years, before President Donald Trump's tariffs tanked the market.

Berkshire Hathaway's billionaire CEO rarely speaks publicly, but on Saturday, he will answer questions onstage for nearly five hours — the high point of his conglomerate's annual shareholder meeting.

"Woodstock for capitalists" sees attendees immerse themselves in all things Buffett for one weekend a year. Many of Berkshire's businesses offer cut-price goods at a two-day shopping event. There's also a picnic and 5K run.

Omaha's hotels, bars, stores, and restaurants fill with subscribers to Buffett's philosophy of seeking bargains, owning for the long run, and remaining calm when others panic. They forge relationships with fellow tribe members, trade stock tips and investing stories, and debate Berkshire's latest moves.

It might sound like an investing conference, but devoted attendees told Business Insider it was a "pilgrimage," a "celebration," and a "blessing."

"The gathering offers a unique blend of wisdom, camaraderie, and tradition," Lawrence Cunningham, the author of several books about Berkshire and the director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center on Corporate Governance, told BI.

Cunningham said the meeting is far more than an investor retreat; it's a "pilgrimage where shareholders connect, learn, and celebrate shared values of integrity, learning, and community."

David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland who's been attending the meeting for 20 years, told BI he's going for the "excitement of being in the same room" as Buffett and 40,000 other investors.

"I will also be renewing friendships with several value investors and meeting other investors for the first time," he said.

Paul Lountzis, the president of Lountzis Asset Management, told BI he began attending the meeting after joining the storied Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb in 1991, and has now gone more than 30 times. He's returning with his two sons this year to see Buffett impart his knowledge and to reunite with friends, join meetings, and enjoy the city.

"We are just so happy to see him given how much he has impacted our lives," Lountzis said, adding that the chance to see Buffett was "first and foremost a blessing."

Holding court

Buffett's Q&A is the weekend's main event. The living legend dispenses wit and wisdom to a packed stadium about investing, business, government, economics, psychology, history, and life.

The Berkshire boss and his lieutenants will field a mix of questions curated by CNBC's Becky Quick and posed by audience members.

Steven Check, the CEO of Check Capital Management, who's been showing up for three decades, told BI it's a "wonderful chance to get your bearings realigned," calling Buffett "the leader of rational thought."

Check hailed the investing legend as "America's business leader" but noted he rarely gives interviews anymore, so the meeting "has become about the only time during the year to hear directly from Buffett."

"Upon leaving, you always have a good feeling that things will be just fine, no matter what is going on," he added.

Cunningham said Buffett's "ability to expound on a wide range of subjects with clarity and humor" is a core part of his appeal to many acolytes.

This year's meeting will be only the second since Buffett's right-hand man, Charlie Munger, died at 99 in November 2023. Buffett's folksy humor and colorful anecdotes combined with Munger's blunt manner and scathing judgments to create a remarkable double act for corporate America.

Buffett will be accompanied this year by his planned successor, Greg Abel, who heads Berkshire's non-insurance businesses. Berkshire's insurance chief, Ajit Jain, will also join the first session of the day.

When asked why he was going, Brett Gardner, an analyst and author of "Buffett's Early Investments," said he simply wanted "to hear from Warren Buffett!"

"I am in awe of his investment record and how he created a trillion-dollar company built on integrity, trust, and his (and Charlie Munger's) genius. It's an incredible creation, and I view the meeting as a celebration of what he's accomplished," he added.

Brian Gongol, a Buffett superfan and shareholder since 2007, told BI that he thinks of the investor as an "intellectual grandfather" whose teachings have made him money and helped him to build a college fund for his kids and nest eggs for loved ones.

"The least I can do to say 'thanks' is to show up when I know how much shareholder attendance at the meeting means to him," Gongol said.

Bargain hunters unite

Gongol is a particular devotee of another big draw: a two-day shopping event in the venue's exhibition hall where about two dozen of the conglomerate's subsidiaries, including See's Candies, Pampered Chef, and Squishmallows-owner Jazwares, showcase their wares at discounted prices for shareholders.

Gongol said he's attended so many meetings that Berkshire merch makes up a "meaningful share" of his wardrobe, rivaling his Chicago Cubs gear and college sweatshirts.

Preparing for departure

In his February letter to shareholders, Buffett mentioned using a cane, emphasized that his time as CEO is nearing an end, and championed Abel as a worthy replacement. Those comments have stoked fresh intrigue that he might announce his retirement at this year's meeting.

Alex Morris, the author of "Buffett and Munger Unscripted" and the founder of investment research service TSOH, told BI the meeting was a chance to "see Warren share his wisdom with the investment community, potentially for the last time," and to reconnect with other investors who "worship at the altar of value investing."

"It is a unique weekend with no parallel in corporate America," he added.

Buffett's advanced age and whispers he could step down have stoked intense interest in one of the last, precious chances to watch, listen, and learn from him in person.

The nonagenarian is all too aware of his mortality. "I not only hope that you come next year, but I hope I come next year," he quipped at the end of last year's gathering.

"I hope it is not Mr. Buffett's last meeting — don't want to think about that," Lountzis said.

• Several tech billionaires attended or donated to Trump's inauguration in January.
• Four of the richest have lost a collective $194 billion in wealth since Trump took office.
• Tech leaders who attend Trump's inauguration have also seen declines in their company's share price.

It's been almost 100 days since President Donald Trump was sworn into office with some of the biggest names in tech near his side.

Several tech billionaires cozied up to Trump ahead of his second term in part by attending the inauguration and donating to the inaugural fund. The appearance of a joint front stood in contrast to years of Trump criticizing Big Tech and calling out some tech leaders directly.

A lot has changed since Inauguration Day. Tech leaders who supported Trump have seen both their net worths and the stock value of the companies they lead decline, as the administration's tariff-fueled trade war has coincided with a disruption in financial markets worldwide.

Four of the richest tech billionaires who attended the inauguration or donated to it — Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jensen Huang — have lost a collective $193.6 billion since January 20, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Here's how much each tech billionaire has lost, according to Bloomberg's net worth estimates as of market close on Monday.

Elon Musk

Net worth on January 20: $449 billion

Net worth on April 28: $335 billion

Loss: $114 billion

Musk, the tech billionaire who's gotten closer to Trump more than any other as an advisor, has seen the greatest decline in wealth, though he remains the world's richest person.

Musk's work with the White House DOGE office led to swift backlash and a wave of protests against Tesla. The electric-vehicle maker has been struggling, with its stock price down nearly 25% this year.

After Tesla reported lackluster quarterly earnings last week, Musk announced he would be stepping back from DOGE in May, spending just one or two days a week on government matters. He has consistently defended his work with the White House to eliminate waste and fraud in government.

Jeff Bezos

Net worth on January 20: $245 billion

Net worth on April 28: $209 billion

Loss: $36 billion

Bezos's wealth, most of which is tied to stock in Amazon, the company he founded, has declined sharply since February.

Analysts have said Amazon is especially at risk of being negatively impacted by Trump's trade war, including the 145% tariff on China, due to the number of products sold on the site, either directly or through third-parties, that come from the country.

Some Amazon sellers have been raising prices on goods like appliances, snacks, and electronics, though the company has said it represents a small fraction of the total amount of goods sold on the site.

Mark Zuckerberg

Net worth on January 20: $217 billion

Net worth on April 28: $195 billion

Loss: $22 billion

Zuckerberg may have had the worst relationship with Trump compared to any other tech billionaire prior to the election. Trump had repeatedly lashed out against the Meta CEO on Truth Social and suggested he should be investigated or jailed after Facebook temporarily banned Trump's account following the January 6 Capitol riot.

Meta, the primary source of Zuckerberg's wealth, has been fighting an anti-trust lawsuit brought by the government that has not gone away under Trump. Zuckerberg earlier this month sat for three days of testimony after the antitrust trial opened.

The Meta CEO testified for more than 10 hours and was grilled by the FTC's lead attorney.

Jensen Huang

Net worth on January 20: $117 billion

Net worth on April 28: $95.4 billion

Loss: $21.6 billion

While Huang did not attend the inauguration, Nvidia donated $1 million to the inaugural fund�. Huang's wealth, a majority of which is tied to Nvidia stock, has also dropped since January, when he attended the inauguration.

Nvidia stock has fallen over 21% year to date, with the company facing several setbacks that include Trump's tariffs, as the company sources a majority of its chips from overseas, primarily Taiwan.

The company also said earlier this month it expected to take a $5.5 billion hit on its first-quarter earnings as a result of the Trump administration's restrictions on its chip exports to China.

Tech leaders also saw stock declines for the companies they lead

Other tech leaders who attended the inauguration saw declines in the stock prices of the companies they lead, including Tim Cook of Apple and Sundar Pichai of Google.

Though some estimates suggest the CEOs are billionaires, they are not on Bloomberg's list of the top 500 richest people, so the change in their estimated net worth since the inauguration was not publicly available.

But Apple's share price has fallen nearly 14% this year, while the share price of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has fallen nearly 15% year over year.

• Melinda French Gates feared her family's vast wealth would result in entitled children.
• The billionaire philanthropist sent them to local schools, and they all took part in community work.
• Bill Gates' ex-wife used an allowance and chores to keep them grounded, she told a podcast.

Melinda French Gates knew her three children were at high risk of being detached from reality, so she says she took pains to keep them grounded.

With Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates as their father, Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe Gates were surrounded by a "crazy amount of wealth" and lived in an "extraordinarily large house," French Gates told NPR's "Fresh Air" podcast this week.

The philanthropist is worth about $14 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. She said she reflected on her own childhood, and the tenets her middle-class parents instilled in her, to figure out how to stave off entitlement and elitism in her kids.

"I wanted them to have deep values. And I wanted them to know they were lucky," French Gates said in the interview, part of the publicity tour for her new book: "The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward."

French Gates, who divorced Gates in 2021 and stepped down as cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last year, said she enrolled her children in local schools instead of homeschooling them. She wanted her family to be part of the community, and believed it would benefit her children, she said.

Her kids did take some "knocks" as she moved them between numerous schools in search of the "right school for the right kid," she said.

French Gates, who launched The Giving Pledge with Gates and Warren Buffett, made sure to expose her kids to the outside world whether they were overseas or at home.

"We went out and saw what life was like for other kids," she said. "And even in the Seattle community, we would go out and work with the homeless, work in a community shelter, be on the lines where they're feeding people."

Those experiences opened their eyes to how lucky they were and made them think about their role in society, French Gates said. She added that her younger daughter, Phoebe, worked in Rwanda for several summers in middle and high school and lived with a local family there.

French Gates said that seeing the world gave her kids perspective about the harsh realities of life and the fact that Seattle was just a "tiny speck on the map."

"And so I tried to ground them in that, ground them with chores, ground them with an allowance," she said, adding that she made sure the hired help had good values too.

French Gates also discussed why she values community work on the "On With Kara Swisher" podcast this week. She said that helping the homeless, mentoring or helping kids with their homework, and serving food to the less fortunate teaches valuable lessons and makes people feel better for helping out.

• The US tech elite are down sharply in wealth this year while their Chinese rivals are up strongly.
• Elon Musk's net worth has tanked by $121 billion, while Bytedance's CEO is up nearly $14 billion.
• Their contrasting fortunes are one result of the global trade turmoil sparked by President Donald Trump.

America's tech titans have lost billions this year while their Chinese rivals have racked up large wealth gains amid President Donald Trump's tariff-induced trade war.

The tariffs have reignited fears of inflation and recession in the US, spurring investors to dump high-flying tech stocks in favor of safer holdings such as gold and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

The sell-off has hammered the net worths of most of the richest Americans, whose stakes in tech companies make up the vast majority of their wealth.

Trump has aimed some of the highest duties at imports from China, putting the world's second-largest economy under more pressure. Nevertheless, Chinese tech stocks have rallied strongly this year at the prospect of friendlier regulation and fresh government stimulus, boosting the fortunes of China's tech elite.

As of Friday's close, the 20 biggest gainers on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index have grown their combined wealth by $139 billion this year — more than BlackRock is worth.

Meanwhile, the 20 largest wealth losers have seen $450 billion vaporized, a figure greater than Exxon Mobil's market value.

It's striking that nine of the top 20 gainers are Chinese and only four are American, while 15 of the 20 biggest losers are American and none are Chinese. That trend may speak to how their companies' outlooks have changed, at least in the eyes of the global investment community, and how the US and China are expected to fare in the trade war.

The Chinese executives racking up wealth this year include Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, and BYD founder Wang Chuanfu. They've jointly added a combined $26 billion, with Zhang gaining $13.6 billion, or 31%, to $57 billion — putting him in 24th place on the rich list.

The US bosses hit hardest are Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. They've lost a collective $193 billion, with Musk shedding $121 billion or 28%.

The richest Americans have lost far more than the Chinese elite have gained for a few reasons. Their fortunes are larger, so a 10% swing in their net worth is a bigger move in dollar terms. US stocks as a whole are more richly valued than Chinese equities, making them more vulnerable to steeper declines.

It's also worth underscoring the greater role of the Chinese government in shoring up its markets and supporting domestic champions, which can help to limit declines in Chinese stocks.

Trouble for Tesla

Chinese billionaires' wealth gains also reflect their companies' strong progress. For example, BYD's sales of electric and hybrid vehicles surged by 40% to a record $107 billion last year, surpassing Tesla's revenues of $98 billion, as the Chinese EV maker made inroads into foreign markets.

Meanwhile, Tesla stock is under pressure not only because of Musk's proximity to Trump and leading role in cutting government spending and workers, but also because of concerns about tariffs and competition.

Politics aside, Tesla has "struggled with an ageing line up, recalls of its much-vaunted Cybertruck and increased competition, especially from Chinese players like BYD," said Danni Hewson of AJ Bell in a recent note.

If Chinese executives scale the global wealth ladder while American titans slide down the rungs, it could signal a sea change in market sentiment — and an upheaval of the global economic order.

• The 2025 Masters Tournament is underway in Georgia.
• The tournament is held at Augusta National, one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the world.
• These clubs are known for years-long waitlists, expensive fees, and high-profile clientele.

Take a look at almost any billionaire's social calendar this weekend, and you'll likely see one thing: The Masters.

The prestigious golf tournament, which teed off Thursday and concludes Sunday, is held each year in Augusta, Georgia, at the Augusta National Golf Club.

"There's a huge amount of very exclusive clubs all over the world — I would say that Augusta National is the most famous one," Barnabas Carrega, CEO of luxury travel and planning firm GR8 Experience, told Business Insider last year.

At Augusta, the best golfers in the world compete to win the coveted green jacket bestowed only to tournament winners and club members and to etch their name into a rich sports history.

In 2024, the honor went to American Scottie Scheffler, who is eyeing a back-to-back win this year.

With past Masters attendees ranging from Nike cofounder Phil Knight to Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, the event is an annual reminder of the wealth ingrained in golf's history and the culture of exclusivity it breeds in the most elite clubs.

"I think that there's two different ways to look at why a club is exclusive and one of them is the quality of the golf course. Sometimes, the golf course has so much history behind it that the club becomes extremely exclusive by default because of the importance of the golf course," said Carrega.

"And then other times it's just the place, the service, the level of facilities, and what they've built around the golf experience," he added.

Regardless of how they achieved their exclusivity, such clubs are almost impossible to join. They require special connections, patience, and plenty of money for a chance at acceptance.

Here's a peek at 10 of the most exclusive golf clubs in the world.

Augusta National Golf Club is the home of the Masters.

The esteemed club, founded and co-designed by legendary golfer and Grand Slam winner Bobby Jones, opened for play in 1932, though women were not allowed to join until August 2012.

One of the highlights of the course is its extensive flora. Per Golf Monthly, Augusta has an estimated 80,000 plants from over 350 varieties, and each hole is named for a corresponding plant. This weekend, pros like Dustin Johnson and Fred Couples will test their skills on holes like Magnolia, Juniper, Azalea, and Holly in pursuit of tournament victory.

And if you're interested in playing this famed course someday, you'll have to get in line. Most memberships are inherited from one of the club's existing 300 or so members, but you could attend as one of their guests. You could also play as a guest of a Masters champion.

If these options sound a little too unrealistic, there is one other way to gain access: volunteering at the Masters. As to be expected, there's a waitlist, but if you volunteer for the full week, you'll be invited to an "Appreciation Day" in May to play a round of golf, per Golf.com. Keep that in mind for next year.

In 2028, Winged Foot Golf Club will host the US Open for the seventh time.

The Mamaroneck, New York, club's East and West courses were ranked on Golf.com's Top 100 Courses in the World of 2023-2024, with the West ranking 29th and the East ranking 80th, so it's no surprise that Winged Foot would be a top choice for the US Open.

"Winged Foot has provided the backdrop for some of the most dramatic moments in the history of our sport, with many of golf's legendary champions being crowned on the club's iconic West Course," said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championships officer, in a press release in 2023, per Golf Digest.

In 2020, Golf.com reported that the Winged Foot Golf Club's waitlist was "supposedly a decade long," and initiation fees are believed to be well above $100,000, so instead of joining, you may just want to think ahead and purchase those 2028 tickets.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews is known as the "Home of Golf."

Founded in 1754, The Old Course at St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland, is one of the oldest golf courses in the world and home to The Open Championship, the oldest and one of the most prestigious tournaments of the season.

While you can take a walking tour of the course between March and November, the clubhouse is usually only accessible to its 2,500 members. However, once a year on November 30, which is also known as St. Andrews Day, part of it is opened to the public for tours, Golf Digest reported.

St. Andrews is notoriously exclusive, allowing its first female members in 2015. Golf.com reported that the multi-step membership process includes an invitation from a current member, an application, and letters of recommendation — and this doesn't even guarantee admission, as it can take years to get through the waitlist, and applications can be outright denied.

The Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle in Scotland offers lessons with PGA professionals.

Barnabas Carrega, CEO of the Gr8 Experience, a luxury travel firm specializing in exclusive experiences, told BI that visiting Skibo is "one of the most incredible experiences" he's ever seen from a country club in terms of level of service, privacy, and exclusivity, describing it as "an immense club."

Per the Carnegie Club's website, the golf course Carnegie Links, "is ideal for both beginners finding their feet on the greens and more accomplished players looking to perfect their swing. Lessons can be booked with our resident PGA professionals."

In 2019, Michael Jordan opened his exclusive golf club, The Grove XXIII.

Business Insider reported in 2021 that Michael Jordan's exclusive golf course in Hobe Sound, Florida, has fewer than 80 members. Some famous names allowed in include former president Barack Obama, former tennis player John McEnroe, and current pros Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson.

As you can probably guess, you'd either need to know Jordan — or he'd want to get to know you — for you to get an invite to this ultra-exclusive club.

"Michael Jordan is a huge fan of golf, and even when he was playing for the Chicago Bulls, apparently, in between games, he would go and play golf," said Carrega. "So he's always been very into the sport."

Jordan even hosts an exclusive tournament, gifting winner Keegan Bradley a $4,000 bottle of his tequila, Cincoro Extra Añejo, in 2023.

Shinnecock Hills was founded in 1891, making it one of the oldest golf clubs in the US.

Another club with high levels of exclusivity is Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, New York. The club will host both the US Open and the US Women's Open in 2036, per Golf.com.

As one of the five founding clubs of the US Golf Association, its history dates back to 1891, which might help explain some of its strict rules.

For example, Shinnecock doesn't allow any cell phones or communication devices to be used or displayed in the clubhouse or on club grounds (except in the telephone room or cars in the parking lot), everyone's shirts must be worn tucked in, and no gratuity may be paid to employees, per the club's Guest Information page.

To play here, you'll need a signature from an accompanying member — no exceptions, sorry.

Cypress Point Golf Club in Pebble Beach, California, reportedly has a seven-year-long waitlist.

In 2019, Cypress Point was named one of Golf.com's most exclusive golf clubs in the world. To quote entertainer and comedian Bob Hope, "One year, they had a big membership drive at Cypress. They drove out 40 members."

Business Insider reported that Cypress has only about 250 members, with Golf Addict noting that the clientele is primarily "prominent politicians, businessmen, and movie stars," who split the course's fees equally, no matter how much they actually golf.

You'll need over $1 million to join Shell Bay Club in Hallandale Beach, Florida.

Where does one begin with Shell Bay? Perhaps you'll start your day at the yacht club, practice your forehand on the Grand Slam-quality tennis courts, and then play a few holes on the Greg Norman-designed golf course. Or maybe you'll just spend the day at the spa.

The possibilities are grand at the Shell Bay Club — if you've got $1.35 million lying around for fun.

"Basically, all the members are millionaires or billionaires," Carrega said, adding that members include "the captains of industry and the most important of the people in Florida."

In addition to the private club, Shell Bay also has residences with amenities that include a sunset cocktail terrace, an orchid garden, and a private wine-tasting room with secure wine drawers.

Japan's Hirono Golf Club requires attendees to adhere to a strict dress code.

Also featured on Golf.com's most exclusive golf clubs in the world in 2019, Hirono Golf Club in Kobe, Japan, has a reputation for being especially private; the last professional tournament played there was the 70th Japan Open Golf Championship in 2005.

While most golf courses are known for having dress codes, some of Hirono's rules are incredibly specific.

Per the club's website, guidelines for playing attire include no clothing with "showy colors or patterns" like red or camouflage, no mock-neck shirts, no shirts without collars and sleeves, no ankle socks, and no clothing or hats "designed with conspicuous advertising intentions."

Only members and their guests are allowed access to Hirono, and both parties are held to the same high standards, with the club noting that members are "fully responsible for the conduct of the visitor," who should be fully informed on the rules and course etiquette before arrival.

Pine Valley Golf Club has been ranked the No. 1 golf course in the US every year since 2017.

Founded in 1913, Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey has been ranked the No. 1 golf course in the state every year since 1985 and the No. 1 golf course in the country every year since 2017, per Golf Digest.

The club is famously invite-only and, until 2021, only allowed women to play as guests on Sunday afternoons.

"The future of golf must move toward inclusion, and I am pleased to report that the Trustees and members of the Pine Valley Golf Club have voted unanimously and with enthusiasm to remove all gender-specific language from our bylaws," club president Jim Davis wrote in an email to members obtained by Golf Digest in 2021.

Pine Valley has only held one elite professional event in its history, further emphasizing its interest in privacy. However, the club will break tradition in 2034 to host the Curtis Cup, a biennial match where the top female American amateurs compete against the best from Great Britain and Ireland.

• President Donald Trump's tariff policies have vaporized trillions of dollars from the stock market.
• Those most affected are huge stockholders like billionaires, many of whom once supported the president.
• They are now turning on him, as stocks are down close to 10% in April already.

Maybe the animal spirits need to be leashed.

The tariffs announced by President Donald Trump last week have tanked global stock markets, hitting the world's richest the hardest.

Billionaires, including big supporters of Trump, have seen their net worths and investment portfolios plummet during the market sell-off.

Hedge fund managers such as Third Point's Dan Loeb and Pershing Square's Bill Ackman have been critical of the tariffs, with Ackman pushing for a 90-day pause on X.

Months after saying that people who are worried about the economic impacts of tariffs should "get over it," JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon wrote in his annual letter published Monday that "America First is fine, as long as it doesn't end up being America alone," and warned that tariffs will slow the economy down.

Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, whom Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent worked under, posted on X in November that his former employee "is innovative in a calm, thoughtful way that will be disruptive but not rattle markets." On Sunday, as recession predictions became commonplace among economists, Druckenmiller made clear he differs from his former protégé, writing that he does not "support tariffs exceeding 10%."

A pair of Republican billionaires named Ken — Langone and Griffin, founders of Home Depot and Citadel, respectively — are frustrated with the rollout.

Langone told the Financial Times that he doesn't "understand the goddamn formula" used to create the specific rates for each country, while Griffin — whose vaunted flagship fund has lost money the last two months — called them a "huge policy mistake" in a talk at the University of Miami Monday night.

The reversal of opinion of the world's wealthiest is no shock. Former President Joe Biden, for example, enjoyed the support of big names in Wall Street and Silicon Valley before the relationship soured, thanks in part to the policies and focuses of former SEC chair Gary Gensler and former FTC chair Lina Khan.

Trump himself has veered between love and hate with the elite of his hometown during his decade in politics, with the most recent lull paling in comparison to how companies and donors fled from him following the January 6 insurrection attempt four years ago.

But this feels different because, according to six different investors trying (and mostly failing) to trade these markets, they're all powerless. A company's fundamentals do not matter now, only whatever comes out of Washington, which led to one trader "getting my face ripped off" by their short bet today.

This individual's bet backfired because the market briefly spiked at a false rumor of a reprieve from the tariffs. The White House denied any pause was coming, with Trump instead threatening even higher tariffs against China, which has shown no sign of yielding.

The Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily, wrote on Sunday that "the more pressure we get, the stronger we become," and some investors are starting to bet on them over the US.

Speaking on "Liberation Day" at a conference put on by technology lobbying group Information Technology Industry Council, David McCormick, the junior senator from Pennsylvania and one-time CEO of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, said he has spoken to many in his old line of work who are "long China and short America."

Following the release of Chinese AI darling DeepSeek's models in January, McCormick, a Republican who is married to former Trump advisor and Goldman Sachs alum Dina Powell, said some of the so-called smart money is betting on the US losing the AI race — but he isn't.

"I'm long America, and I'm short China," he said, "but it depends on what we do. It's in our hands, and we can mess it up."

Emmalyse Brownstein contributed reporting.

• The Breakthrough Prize ceremony and red carpet were hosted in Santa Monica on Saturday night.
• Actors, musicians, and billionaires were all in attendance, from Katy Perry to Sergey Brin.
• While some stood out in stunning suits and gowns, other stars could have tweaked their outfits.

The Breakthrough Prize ceremony is hosted annually in celebration of scientific achievements — but the event's red carpet is all about fashion.

The event was held in Santa Monica on Saturday night, and actors, musicians, billionaires, and more were in attendance.

Though some of those guests arrived in stunning fashion, others missed the mark with their ensembles.

Here are the best and worst looks of the night.

Lauren Sánchez stunned in a vintage gown and diamond jewels.

She walked the red carpet with her billionaire fiancé Jeff Bezos, who sported a classic tuxedo.

Sánchez, on the other hand, stood out in a red, sleeveless gown made by John Galliano in 1994 and previously worn by Sophia Loren.

The satin garment had an asymmetrical bodice with a low neckline, form-fitting fabric across the waist, and a skirt that flowed around her ankles.

She completed the look with diamond earrings, a statement necklace, and a crystal-covered clutch designed by Judith Leiber to look like an astronaut.

Salma Hayek Pinault's chunky gold jewelry clashed with her flowing black ensemble.

Yves Saint Laurent designed her layered look. It featured billowing sheer sleeves, a keyhole cutout at the chest, and a tiered skirt with a thick waistband.

Though the black outfit was chic and suited the actor, it was far simpler than her statement gold accessories.

She wore shining platform heels, a chunky necklace with a large floral charm, a matching ring, and numerous bracelets on both wrists.

The bold jewelry might have looked better with a more form-fitting look that highlighted it better.

Lizzo brought the drama in a mermaid-style gown and colorful makeup.

The musician opted for a strapless gown designed to look like it was wrapped around her body. It had ruching across the chest, waist, and hips, a layered skirt with pleats, and a short train.

The dress was glamorous, bold, and one of the best seen on the red carpet.

Equally as stunning were her accessories and makeup. Lizzo wore elbow-length gloves that matched her dress, as well as red blush, red eye shadow, and blotted lipstick.

She also wore her hair in loose, slicked waves to create the illusion that it was wet.

Christina Aguilera's white gown looked more like a princess costume than a designer red-carpet look.

Dolce & Gabbana designed the musician's dress, which was sleeveless, floor-length, and wrapped with a visible corset around her waist.

The latter detail — as well as its sheer, cape-like shoulder pieces — distracted from the gown's glamour. She also wore delicate jewelry and her hair in a half-up, half-down style. Both added to the look's overall princess aesthetic.

The outfit would have worked better at a medieval-themed event or as a princess costume.

Sergey Brin chose a sparkling suit for the occasion.

Brin, the billionaire cofounder of Alphabet, was one of the best-dressed men at the Breakthrough Prize ceremony.

He wore a black suit that mixed traditional menswear styles with modern red-carpet aesthetics. His trousers were solid and straight, while his satin button-down added a fun texture to the top half of his look.

The most interesting part of his look was his suit jacket, which was decorated with pearls, crystals, and beads to create a leaf pattern.

MrBeast played it too safe with his fashion.

He sported a traditional tuxedo comprised of pleated dress pants, a suit jacket with satin lapels, a white button-down shirt, and a black bowtie.

Though the social-media star has worn dress clothes for other occasions, MrBeast noted on Instagram that the Breakthrough event marked his first time wearing an actual tuxedo.

Kate Hudson glimmered in gold.

The actor sparkled in Elie Saab Couture. Her off-the-shoulder gown was made from tan mesh, embellished with metallic sequins, and shaped in loose puffs.

Between its oversize details and sparkling lines, the dress looked as though it was cascading across Hudson's body.

She wore it with silver rings, gold earrings, and a brushed-back hairstyle.

Katy Perry made a statement in silver, but it wasn't her best look.

Perry wore Gaurav Gupta for the Breakthrough ceremony. Her asymmetrical dress had a thick neckpiece, deep cutouts across its bodice, a backless top, and a floor-length skirt.

With the dress, the musician proved that silver is absolutely one of her colors. However, its skin-colored mesh was visible beneath its daring chest piece, which distracted from the outfit.

Its swirled design and matching headpiece also didn't appear to fit Perry perfectly.

• Warren Buffett socked away $321 billion while waiting for the market to crash like it did this week.
• The legendary investor specializes in buying cut-rate stocks during periods of market panic.
• Buffett gurus told BI the billionaire may wait for lower prices or a clearer outlook before buying.

Warren Buffett famously says to "be greedy when others are fearful" and "when it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble." The legendary bargain hunter has been waiting years for the stock market to crash like it did this week — but he might not be buying yet.

President Donald Trump's unveiling of near-universal tariffs and foreign countries' threats of retaliation vaporized upward of $5 trillion — more than double Nvidia's market value — from the S&P 500 over the course of Thursday and Friday.

Some of Buffett's favorite stocks got spanked, with Apple, American Express, Bank of America, and Occidental Petroleum all sinking more than 15% in two days.

Buffett's longtime secretary, Debbie Bosanek, told BI in a statement: "Mr. Buffett is not doing interviews but instead is saving his commentary for the Q&A session on May 3 which is held before the Berkshire Annual Meeting."

The downturn is likely to hearten the Berkshire Hathaway CEO, given he's a value investor who looks to buy businesses at a discount to their worth. He's also known to capitalize on crises, for example when he deployed $26 billion across five deals between 2008 and 2009.

Buffett wrote in his 2017 shareholder letter that sharp sell-offs can create "extraordinary opportunities" for investors who heed the writer Rudyard Kipling's words to "keep your head when all about you are losing theirs."

However, surging valuations have priced him out of buying stocks, acquiring businesses, and even repurchasing his own company's stock in recent years.

Buffett, 94, has also off-loaded a net $158 billion of stocks over the past two calendar years. Berkshire's cash pile has roughly tripled from under $110 billion in September 2022 to $321 billion at the end of 2024 — that's bigger than Coca-Cola's market value.

Armed with an overflowing war chest, Buffett appears well-placed to wade into the market rout and scoop up stocks on the cheap. The internet certainly agrees — social media is rife with comments and memes about Buffett sitting pretty while markets are in chaos.

Wall Street has also rewarded Buffett's cash hoarding: Berkshire's stock price is up about 9% this year, trouncing the S&P's near 14% decline.

As of Thursday's close, the share surge had added $23 billion to Buffett's personal fortune and vaulted him past the likes of LVMH's Bernard Arnault and Oracle's Larry Ellison into fourth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Yet the famously patient and disciplined investor might wait longer before embarking on a shopping spree.

"When prices fall, it certainly encourages Buffett to buy unless he views new permanent damage greater than the price discount," Steven Check told Business Insider. Check oversees $2 billion in assets as the CEO of Check Capital Management and has attended every in-person Berkshire annual meeting since 1996.

Stocks may be cheaper than before, but Check said Buffett will likely "require a much larger drop to do significant buying."

Waiting game

Buffett's followers will likely have to wait until Berkshire's meeting in May or its second-quarter portfolio update in August to learn whether the investor topped up his holdings this week.

Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University who's been teaching Buffett-style valuation to students for decades, told BI he's "watching his next move with the most careful and anxious attention" as it will "tell us a great deal about where he thinks the economy is going."

"If he plunges into the market and starts buying, it will signal that he believes the Trump tariffs were nothing more than a minor economic annoyance that created wonderful buying opportunities," said Hanke, who is a former economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan and was the president of Toronto Trust Argentina when it was the world's best-performing mutual fund in 1995.

If Buffett holds off, Hanke said it would suggest he's keeping in mind the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of March 1930, which "broke the back of the stock market and helped to plunge the world into the Great Depression."

Hanke's "tentative guess" is that Buffett's knowledge of economic history will lead him to "remain on the sidelines, at least for a while" until the scope of the economic situation becomes clearer.

If the frantic sell-off in markets continues, Buffett's moment might come sooner rather than later.

• Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez will wed in Venice this summer.
• Around 200 guests, including Kim Kardashian and Ivanka Trump, are expected to attend.
• The couple went public with their relationship in 2019 and became engaged in 2023.

Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos are preparing to host the wedding of the year — or maybe even the century.

After months of speculation, the mayor of Venice confirmed in late March that the billionaire and his soon-to-be bride are set to wed within the Italian city's borders this summer.

The ceremony will take place more than six years after the couple went public with their relationship in January 2019.

Here's everything we know about the highly anticipated event so far.

Hundreds of invitations and a luxe destination

Bezos, 61, and Sánchez, 55, have yet to share any details about their coming wedding. However, other involved parties have.

Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro released a statement on Saturday saying the city would host the coming nuptials.

He told The Times that Venice won the couple's affection — they considered multiple destinations — with some help from Dolce & Gabbana designer Domenico Dolce.

Local officials also said four luxury hotels and a fleet of water taxis have been rented for the occasion, The Times reported.

The Amazon founder and his fiancée have invited around 200 guests, according to Brugnaro's statement. That list is said to include Kim Kardashian, Ivanka Trump, and Bill Gates, among other celebrities and billionaires.

However, Brugnaro said Venice is equipped to handle the star-studded ceremony and has "experience in international events much larger than this."

"The organization (Bezos and guests) have categorically not booked large amounts of gondolas or excessive numbers of water taxis," he said. "It is their utmost priority to make sure the city functions as normal, for all, with no abnormal disruption to anyone."

The couple was previously surrounded by rumors that they were hosting a $600 million winter wedding in Aspen last year until Bezos shut down the speculation on X.

Italian publications later said they'd wed on Bezos' $500 million yacht in the region, though The Daily Mail reported that the rumor was false.

Page Six reported that wedding invitations have officially been sent and that the couple's outfit fittings are now underway.

This weekend, photos of Bezos and Sánchez visiting a Dolce & Gabbana store in Milan were published. As they left the boutique, members of their posse were seen carrying white garment bags.

There are also rumors that Sánchez's wedding dress will be designed by Oscar de la Renta, the same designer who created her 2024 Met Gala gown.

The story of Bezos and Sánchez

The couple is said to have connected at an Amazon Studios party for the film "Manchester by the Sea" in 2016 while they were both married to other people.

In 2018, they reconnected professionally when Bezos hired Sánchez's aerial filming company to work with Blue Origin.

Bezos and his now ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, announced their divorce on January 9, 2019, and his relationship with Sánchez was announced hours later.

The couple confirmed their engagement in May 2023 and have been attending major events like White House dinners and movie premieres ever since.

• Jensen Huang's net worth is down almost a fifth this year to $91.8 billion.
• Nvidia stock fell sharply on Wednesday and is now down almost 25% this year.
• Warren Buffett and Amancio Ortega are the only centi-billionaires to post wealth gains this year.

Jensen Huang's net worth is down by almost a fifth this year after Nivida stock's slide on Wednesday.

The CEO is $22.6 billion less well off and worth $91.8 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, putting him in 16th place. Most of his wealth comes from his stake in Nvidia, whose shares have fallen almost 25% since January.

Huang and Michael Dell have fallen by a combined $49 billion this year following Nvidia's stock slide and a broader tech sell-off on Wednesday.

The two CEOs both fell out of the exclusive $100 billion club earlier this month after a painful first quarter for the stock market.

At the start of the year, there were 16 centi-billionaires, but there are now only 14, according to the Bloomberg rich list, as a sharp sell-off in equities wiped billions from their fortunes in the worst quarter for the market since 2022.

President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policies have led to a more volatile market and dampened investor confidence.

Jensen Huang

Once one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI stock boom, Nvidia has faced a series of obstacles this year that have hit its stock price.

A mix of AI market saturation fears, tighter regulations, and a disappointing IPO from AI cloud startup CoreWeave have weighed on investor sentiment.

The stock closed almost 7% lower on Wednesday amid tariff pressure from President Donald Trump.

Huang remains much richer than he was two years ago, when his net worth was about $25 billion — although he's still well off his $130 billion peak from last November.

Michael Dell

Dell, the tech entrepreneur who has turned the company he founded into a global powerhouse, is also less wealthy now than a few months ago.

The Bloomberg rich list shows he's lost a big slice of his fortune this year with a $26.3 billion decline. He's now worth $97.3 billion and in 15th place.

Despite reporting strong earnings in February, Dell Technologies' stock has fallen more than 28% this year amid concern about slower-than-expected AI infrastructure spending and tariff uncertainty.

Not quite so rich

Other members of the $100 billion club have taken heavy hits, with Elon Musk down $129 billion to $304 billion, Larry Ellison down almost $41 billion to $151 billion, and Jeff Bezos down $42 billion to $197 billion.

Only two centi-billionaires have grown their wealth this year.

Warren Buffett has added $19.3 billion to his fortune following a surge in Berkshire Hathaway stock, putting him fourth on Bloomberg's list at $161 billion.

That's one spot and $3 billion ahead of Bill Gates, his friend and Microsoft cofounder, whose net worth is down $776 million this year. Gates' Microsoft stake is only valued at $24.3 billion, meaning the bulk of his wealth is held in other investments.

Amancio Ortega, the founder of Zara owner Inditex, had fallen out of the exclusive club but his net worth has since recovered. He's worth $106 billion at Wednesday's close, up $4.5 billion this year, putting him in 14th place on the rich list.

• Charlie Munger called Alibaba one of his worst investments before he died in November 2023.
• Warren Buffett's late business partner may have been too harsh, as the stock has soared 74% since then.
• As Daily Journal's chairman, he built a $72 million stake that made up nearly 30% of its portfolio.

Charlie Munger labeled his Alibaba wager one of the worst mistakes of his career shortly before he died. The legendary investor may have been too hasty in writing off his last big bet.

A broader Chinese tech rally has boosted Alibaba stock by 56% this year, and 74% since Munger's death in November 2023. The e-commerce giant's shares have rallied to their highest levels since November 2021, although they still trade at less than half their October 2020 peak.

Munger, Warren Buffett's right-hand man and Berkshire Hathaway's vice-chairman for more than 40 years, invested both his family's money and some of Daily Journal's spare cash in Alibaba.

Daily Journal is a newspaper publisher and legal software supplier that Munger chaired from 1977 to 2022. Starting in 2009, he grew its stock portfolio from scratch to be worth more than $300 million.

Munger bought 165,000 American depositary shares (ADS) of Alibaba for the company in the first quarter of 2021, marking the first new addition to its US stock portfolio since at least the end of 2013.

Even as Alibaba's stock price nearly halved that year, the billionaire raised the stake to about 602,000 shares worth $72 million at the end of 2021, accounting for 28% of the US stock portfolio's total value.

Munger shifted gears the following quarter, paring Daily Journal's holding to 300,000 shares. That position remained intact until after the investor died, just a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

In the first quarter of 2024, Daily Journal cut the stake to 195,000 shares worth $16.5 million at the end of March that year, and it was still that size at the end of December, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show.

Owning up to mistakes

In the same quarter that Munger began buying Alibaba, he scolded cofounder Jack Ma for publicly criticizing the Chinese government, calling him "very arrogant."

Following Ma's comments, authorities nixed a planned initial public offering for Alibaba's mobile payments affiliate, Ant Group. They also demanded Ant restructure its business and hit Alibaba with billions of dollars in antitrust penalties. Meanwhile, Jack Ma disappeared from public view.

Munger intentionally rubbed his nose in his missteps to avoid making similar ones in the future. So it's unsurprising that he openly described Alibaba as a terrible error.

"I regard Alibaba as one of the worst mistakes I ever made," Munger said at Daily Journal's annual meeting in February 2023.

"I got charmed by the idea of their position in the Chinese internet. I didn't stop to realize they're still a goddamn retailer," he continued. "It's going to be a competitive business, the internet — it's not going to be a cakewalk for everybody."

In his final TV interview in late 2023, Munger said: "My worst trade was buying a block for the Munger family in Alibaba, which is a pretty good company. But I think it got overhyped, and Jack Ma made mistakes in dealing with the Chinese government. Everybody has some bad ones. The greatest tennis player goes out there some days to the center court and has a bad day. It happens."

Winners and losers

Alibaba has proven to be less disastrous than Munger feared, and may even turn out to be a winner. Even if it doesn't, he has other stellar bets to hang his hat on.

For example, he pitched BYD to Buffett, resulting in Berkshire paying $232 million for 225 million shares of the Chinese EV maker in 2008. BYD's stock price has surged from the Hong Kong dollar equivalent of $1 then to record highs of above $50 in recent days.

Berkshire cut its stake from about 20% in 2022 to under 5% by mid-2024, and may have exited the bet completely. If untouched, those 225 million shares would be worth more than $11 billion.

Even though it cashed out, Berkshire likely made well over 20 times its money based on BYD's trading range during its selling timeframe.

Munger may have died believing that investing in Alibaba was a bad decision when it wasn't. Even if he was wrong to buy in, he's knocked it out of the park with bets like BYD.

• Elon Musk's central role in the Trump administration has sparked a fierce backlash against Tesla.
• Warren Buffett stays out of politics as he knows his employees and shareholders could pay the price.
• Musk had good reasons to get political but he's damaging his companies, commentators tell BI.

Elon Musk's foray into politics has put a target on Tesla, showing Warren Buffett was right to worry that speaking out could hurt his employees and shareholders.

Musk threw his money and clout behind President Donald Trump's reelection campaign last year, stumping for the Republican candidate at rallies, whipping up support for him on X, and pouring more than $290 million into returning him to power.

The world's richest man is now a prominent advisor to the US leader and the driving force behind DOGE's ostensible mission to reduce government fraud, waste, and abuse.

Musk's central role in the Trump administration has rankled some Americans, sparking boycotts and sales of Tesla vehicles, protests outside showrooms — and even vandalism and destruction of the company's products and property.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has said he's shocked by the violence, calling it "insane and deeply wrong" in an X post earlier this month. "Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks."

In another post, Musk wrote: "Has there ever been such a level of coordinated violence against a peaceful company? I understand not wanting to buy a product, but this is extreme arson and destruction!"

Staying out of trouble

Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, openly supported Democrats until a few years ago. He hosted fundraisers for Barack Obama in 2011, and took the stage at a Hillary Clinton rally in 2016 to call out Trump's multiple failed businesses, refusal to release his tax returns, and cruel treatment of others. He did not endorse Kamala Harris or any other politicians last year.

The billionaire investor explained why at Berkshire's annual shareholders' meeting in 2022. His previous stance was that he doesn't put his "citizenship in a blind trust as a CEO," but recognized that voicing his political views could anger people and prompt them to "take it out on our companies."

"I've decidedly backed off. I don't want to say anything that'll get attributed, basically to Berkshire, and have somebody else bear the consequences of what I talk about," Buffett said, underscoring that he doesn't want his workers and stockholders to "pay the price" for his political commentary.

However, Musk and Buffett have starkly different goals that shape their political strategies, Sean Lux, an associate professor of practice at Texas Tech University's Rawls College of Business, told Business Insider.

The Berkshire chief is focused on delivering consistent, long-term returns regardless of which party is in charge, so avoiding politics or playing nice with both sides makes sense for him, Lux said.

As for Musk, his ultimate mission is to reach Mars and the US government could be a "tremendous catalyst or impediment" to those efforts, Lux said.

"Donald Trump's candidacy provided Elon a once-in-history opportunity to broadly influence US policy in support of his goals," Lux said. "Elon is probably the greatest business strategist of his generation, and he was unlikely to miss this opportunity regardless of public backlash."

The business guru pointed to the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to allow SpaceX's Starlink unit to offer direct-to-cell satellite service.

Lux said that "alone was worth the cost of Elon's support to Trump's campaign." It's a major step toward Musk disrupting not just telecom giants but players such as Apple, Meta, and Alphabet.

Speaking out can be costly

Steven Callander, a professor of political economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, told BI the backlash against Musk for his politics actions was "inevitable." He said the "real cost to Tesla will be the lost sales and the brand damage" — not the vandalism.

New Tesla registrations in the US tumbled 11% in January — even as Ford's EV sales soared 54% — and picture was worse in Europe as sales plunged more than 40% in February, industry reports show. Tesla shares are down 45% from their December high.

Callander said the public is fine with CEOs taking political stances as that's "part of being authentic," but the risk is they become so enmeshed in politics that it "overwhelms their business identity."

"This is Musk's fate," he said, adding that the benefits to Musk's companies from government contracts "will be swamped by the damage he is doing with the millions of customers in the general public."

Callander added that business leaders don't only have to gauge the risk of public backlash, but now the possibility of government retaliation too. That's a "real concern for many CEOs," he said. "They'd rather stay in the pack and not be the one targeted by Trump."

• Zhang Yiming has built a $57.5 billion fortune since cofounding ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant behind TikTok.
• Zhang is highly private and little is publicly known about his personal life.
• He recently became the richest person in China. Here's a look at his career and life.

The widespread popularity of TikTok has created not only a new generation of social media stars — it's also helped mint China's wealthiest person.

Zhang Yiming, the 41-year-old software engineer who founded the app's parent company, ByteDance, now has a net worth of $57.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

This makes Zhang the richest person in China, edging ahead of Pony Ma, the founder and CEO of Tencent. Ma has a net worth of $56.5 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zhang is a highly private person and little is publicly known about his personal life.

After running ByteDance for nearly a decade, Zhang stepped down as CEO in 2021, reportedly telling employees that he's "not very social, preferring solitary activities like being online, reading, listening to music, and contemplating what may be possible."

"The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager," Zhang said at the time, according to Reuters, saying he would be a better help to the company in a role that didn't involve managing people directly.

Here's what we know about his career rise and life:

Zhang was born in 1983 in China's Fujian province.

Zhang's parents worked as civil servants, according to Bloomberg.

His name is based on a Chinese proverb about "surprising everyone with a first attempt," the South China Morning Post reported.

He married his college sweetheart.

Zhang graduated from Nankai University in 2005, where he started off studying microelectronics before switching his major to software engineering, according to the South China Morning Post.

Zhang's first job out of college was at a digital travel booking startup called Kuxun.

Zhang said he was an engineer at first but came to be in charge of 40 to 50 people by his second year at the company, according to SCMP. He credits that job with teaching him sales skills that he later used to grow ByteDance, including learning "what sales are good sales."

Zhang learned the value of pursuing excellence while still in his first job at Kuxun, he told ByteDance employees, according to the report.

"At that time, I was responsible for the technology, but when the product had problems, and I would actively participate in the discussion of [the] product plan," Zhang said, according to the newspaper. "A lot of people say this is not what I should be doing. But I want to say: your sense of responsibility and your desire to do things well, will drive you to do more things and to gain experience."

Zhang also worked at Microsoft before founding ByteDance, the South China Morning Post reported.

Zhang founded TikTok's parent company in 2012.

The company owns several social networking apps that operate within China. It released a WeChat rival called FlipChat, and a video-messaging app called Duoshan in 2019.

Zhang and ByteDance's first product was a news aggregator app called Toutiao.

Zhang wanted to create a news platform whose results were powered by artificial intelligence, separate from China's search engine Baidu.

"We push information, not by queries, by news recommendations," Zhang told Bloomberg in 2017.

Despite its focus on news, Zhang told Bloomberg's Lulu Yilun Chen and Mark Bergen in 2017 that ByteDance does not have any journalists on its staff like many other social networks.

"The most important thing is that we are not a news business," Zhang told Bloomberg. "We are more like a search business or a social media platform. We are doing very innovative work. We are not a copycat of a U.S. company, both in product and technology."

Zhang launched ByteDance's most successful app — TikTok — under the name Douyin in September 2016.

TikTok is one of the most popular social networks among American teens and has more than 170 million US users as of September 2024, the company says.

Zhang was known for making his own TikToks — and requiring his senior employees to do so as well.

"For a very long time, I was merely watching TikTok videos without making any of them myself, because it's a product mainly for young people," Zhang said, according to the South China Morning Post. "But later on we made it compulsory for all management team members to make their own TikTok videos, and they must win a certain number of 'likes'. Otherwise, they have to do push-ups. It was a big step for me."

Zhang's leadership style is "soft-spoken yet charismatic, logical yet passionate, young yet wise," according to Time Magazine's Kai-Fu Lee.

Zhang stepped down as ByteDance's CEO in 2021.

Zhang stepped down as CEO in 2021, saying that he "lack[s] some of the skills that make an ideal manager" and would be a greater asset to the company in a non-management role.

Zhang wants the app to continue to grow abroad, saying that he hopes his ByteDance will be "as borderless as Google," according to the South China Morning Post.

"We must work harder, we must also be more perfectionist," Zhang said, according to SCMP. "Just like there was an international division of labor in the industrial age, in today's information age there's also an international division of labor. Chinese entrepreneurs must also improve their own capabilities as they go global," he said.

However, TikTok's ownership by a Chinese parent company and its growing influence in the US has raised concerns among US regulators.

In April, the Senate passed a divest-or-ban law on TikTok, requiring the company to stop operations in the US on January 19 if it did not divest from ByteDance.

However, the ban on TikTok was paused for 75 days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20. TikTok has until April 5 to find a new owner in the US.

Several big-name buyers like Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, and "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary have expressed interest in acquiring TikTok.

Zhang has become a billionaire owing to the success of TikTok and ByteDance more broadly.

Forbes first declared Zhang a billionaire in March 2018, estimating that Zhang was worth $4 billion.

On the annual Hurun China Rich List for 2024, he was listed as the country's richest person, with an estimated net worth of $49.3 billion.

In March, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index recognized Zhang as China's richest person, with a net worth of $57.5 billion.

• Berkshire Hathaway stock has jumped 16% this year while the S&P 500 has dropped 2%.
• Investors are flocking to Warren Buffett's company because of its huge cash reserves and reputation.
• Buffett is known for capitalizing on market chaos and has assuaged succession concerns.

Warren Buffett is off to a roaring start to 2025 with shares of his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate up 16%, trouncing the benchmark S&P 500's 2% decline.

The stock surge has boosted Buffett's net worth by an unmatched $23 billion, vaulting him past Bill Gates into sixth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a $165 billion fortune.

The 94-year-old business icon and his company are riding high as investors seek shelter from roiling markets, trusting the legendary bargain hunter to pounce if asset prices crash and the economy tanks.

They're also cheering a rebound at Geico, which is owned by Berkshire, and banking on Buffett's planned successor to deliver when the time comes.

Port in a storm

"Berkshire is a stable, solid ship in a sea of uncertainty right now," Paul Lountzis, the president and founder of Lountzis Asset Management, told Business Insider.

The longtime Berkshire shareholder pointed to the company's "rock of Gibraltar" balance sheet, which boasted more than $320 billion in cash, Treasurys, and other liquid assets at the end of December, and stocks worth more than $270 billion.

During his 60 years in charge, Buffett has transformed Berkshire from a failing textile mill into a $1 trillion juggernaut. He's acquired scores of businesses across myriad industries, including See's Candies, Precision Castparts, and the BNSF Railway, and built multibillion-dollar stakes in blue-chip stocks such as Apple, Coca-Cola, and American Express.

Berkshire stock has soared in value by more than 5,500,000% during Buffett's tenure, crushing the S&P's roughly 39,000% gain over the same period. The stock has compounded at about 20% a year for six decades — almost twice as fast as the benchmark.

The billionaire philanthropist is also known for prudently managing Berkshire, prizing long-term success over short-term gains.

"In an uncertain world, investors place a higher value on the certainty that Berkshire offers," Darren Pollock, a portfolio manager at Cheviot Value Management and another longtime shareholder, told BI. "Consistency and reliability often get a bid when froth exits financial markets."

Cathy Seifert, a senior vice president at CFRA Research and a longtime Berkshire analyst, said there's been a "flight to quality amid an upswing in market and geopolitical volatility," and investors see Buffett's sprawling empire as a safe haven.

Profiting from chaos

Buffett is a value investor who specializes in spotting and scooping up stocks and businesses at a discount. The best time to do that is when prices tumble and the pool of buyers dries up.

"Warren Buffett has often demonstrated he is at his best with capital allocation with more challenging conditions," Macrae Sykes, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, told BI. He's "shown a unique ability to see through the noise and find value."

For example, the legendary investor struck lucrative deals with Goldman Sachs, General Electric, Mars, Dow Chemical, and Swiss Re during the financial crisis.

He deployed more than $21 billion across those five transactions between 2008 and 2009, securing positions worth a combined $26 billion — and yielding $2.1 billion in yearly interest and dividends — by the end of 2009.

Fast-forward to today, and Berkshire's huge "cash cushion" gives it "tremendous firepower for bargain hunting should opportunities arise," Pollock said.

Buffett's patience, discipline, and refusal to buy into bubbles and trendy stocks have paid off in the past. When the dot-com bubble burst and the S&P fell by an average of 14% a year between 2000 and 2002, Berkshire shares rose by 10% on average during those three years as investors dumped expensive tech stocks and returned to tried-and-true names.

Under Buffett's leadership, Berkshire stock "substantially outperformed" the market in 10 of the 12 years the S&P declined, David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland who's followed Buffett for four decades, told BI.

Lifting the hood

Berkshire's business performance has also made it a draw for investors. The company has some "fundamental momentum," Sykes said, noting it generated about $30 billion in operating cash flow last year, or about $600 million a week.

Geico's profits soared last year as Todd Combs, the car insurer's CEO and one of Buffett's two investment managers, boosted efficiency and updated its underwriting practices.

Buffett described Geico as a "long-held gem that needed major repolishing" in his latest annual letter and hailed its recent performance as "spectacular."

The recovery helped lift Berkshire's operating earnings by 71% year-over-year last quarter. Kass said that was a key reason its shares have outpaced Magnificent Seven stocks such as Microsoft and Alphabet this year.

Seifert said the Geico turnaround should "significantly aid" Berkshire's profit growth given it's one of the company's most important business units. She also noted the Federal Reserve's hikes to interest rates since 2022 have made Berkshire's mountain of bonds more lucrative.

Buffett's company raked in nearly $22 billion in interest, dividend, and investment income last year, up from less than $16 billion in 2023 and about $10 billion in 2022.

Berkshire after Buffett

Buffett and Berkshire have become virtually synonymous, making it hard to imagine another CEO filling his shoes. Yet the demise of his longtime business partner, Charlie Munger, a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday in late 2023, underscored the Buffett era is nearing an end.

Buffett has carefully planned for his departure and worked to build shareholders' comfort with Greg Abel, the head of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses and his chosen successor.

A final reason for Berkshire's stock gains this year is "growing confidence" in Abel's ability to make Berkshire's subsidiaries sing and shrewdly allocate the company's capital, Sykes said.

Buffett has "done a great job preparing the firm for a future without him," Lountzis said. "There is not much more he could do — though I do wish he could clone himself and Charlie to keep running it for another 60 years."