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wαяяєи єdwαяd bυffєтт 1) The American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet is worth an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago thanks to surging prices of Berkshire Hathaway stock, according to Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the world's billionaires.

Warren Edward Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska on August 30, 1930. His father was stockbroker and congressman Howard Buffett. As a kid he delivered newspapers for extra money and at the age of 11 he made his first stock investment - he bought 3 shares of Cities Service Preferred at $38. After watching the stock go down to $27 and back up to $40 he sold it and took his profit. Subsequently the stock rose to over $200 and thus started his passion for investments in the stock market.
He got his education at the University of Nebraska and since Harvard rejected him, he did his Masters at Columbia University under legendary Benjamin Graham. He went on to work for Graham at Graham-Newman and it was here that he learned some of his value investing techniques.
In 1957 he went back to his native Omaha and decided to start his own investment partnership. Several investors trusted him with their money, so together with his own $100 he started investing with the aim of beating the Dow Jones average by 10% per year. At the end of the partnership in 1969 he had done much better and average 30% return per annum where the Dow Jones Average was 7% to 11%.
One of his worst investments was a textile mill by the name of Berkshire Hathaway. Textiles was being phased out on account of the low base that it had in the east and even Warren Buffett’s business skill couldn’t turn the loss making company around. But like a true entrepreneur, he turned a problem into an opportunity and sold the textiles assets and turned the company shell into an investment vehicle. With some of his investors from his original partnership, he turned this into a wealth creation machine through meticulous stock investments (he had free cash flow from the insurance companies in the shell).
Much can still be said on Berkshire Hathaway - like the story of the Othmers who were ‘normal’ people who bequeathed over $340 million to various institutions on their death with the only clue to their wealth that they were originally from Omaha, Nebraska; or the fact that the share started out at $42 per share and are now valued at more than $60 000 per share - but I am talking about the man.
He was married to Susan Buffett until her death in 2004, though they have been separated since 1977 and he has been living with Astrid Menks. The three are said to be friends and even sign presents to their three children from Warren, Susie and Astrid.
I respect him for the way he has succeeded in not spoiling his children. In fact, he is viewed as quite a miser in relation to his kids. It is a difficult line to walk in growing a sense of self reliance in his children vs. knowing you can- and have the ability to spoil them but choosing to let them become self-sufficient instead of relying on his wealth. He went so far as to say that he wants to distribute 99% of his wealth and thus only leave 1% for his heirs. Still, $360 million can seriously spoil someone.
It is an undisputed fact that Warren Buffett is viewed as the world’s best stock investor and will remain that for a while to come. If you want to get more insights into the views of the world’s best investor, buy a stock of his company and you might get some invaluable pearls of wisdom from the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett.

Buffett's Historical Timeline1950: (20 years old)

Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School after learning that Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, two well-known securities analysts, taught there.

1951:(21 years old)

Buffett graduated from Columbia and wanted to work on Wall Street. Buffett offered to work for Graham for free but Graham refused. Meanwhile, he worked as a stockbroker. During that time, Buffett also took a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. Using what he learned, he felt confident enough to teach a night class at the University of Nebraska, "Investment Principles." The average age of the students he taught was more than twice his own.

1952: (22 years old)Buffett married Susan Thompson.

1954: (24 years old)Benjamin Graham offered Buffett a job at his partnership with a starting salary of $12,000 a year. Here, he worked closely with Walter Schloss.Susan had her first child, Howard Graham Buffett

1956: (25 years old)Benjamin Graham retired and folded up his partnership.Buffett's personal savings are now over $140,000.Buffett returned home to Omaha and created Buffett Associates, Ltd., an investment partnership.
1957: (27 years old)Buffett had three partnerships operating the entire year.Buffett purchased a five-bedroom, stucco house on Farnam Street for $31,500.Susan was about to have her third child.

1958: (28 years old)Buffett had five partnerships operating the entire year.1959: (29 years old)Buffett had six partnerships operating the entire year.Buffett was introduced to Charlie Munger.

1960: (30 years old)Buffett had seven partnerships operating the entire year.The partnerships were: Buffett Associates, Buffett Fund, Dacee, Emdee, Glenoff, Mo-Buff, and Underwood.Buffett asks one of his partners, a doctor, to find ten other doctors who will be willing to invest $10,000 each into his partnership. Eventually, eleven doctors agreed to invest.

1961: (31 years old)Buffett revealed that Sanborn Map Company accounted for 35% of the partnerships' assets.Buffett reveals that he earned a spot on the board of Sanborn.

1962: (32 years old)Buffett's partnerships, in January 1962, had in excess of $7,178,500 of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Buffett.Buffett merges all partnerships into one partnership.Buffett discovered a textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett's partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share

1965: (35 years old)When Buffett's partnerships began aggressively purchasing Berkshire they paid $14.86 per share while the company had working capital (current assets minus liabilities) of $19 per share, this did not include the value of fixed assets (factory and equipment).Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at the board meeting and named a new President, Ken Chace, to run the company.

1967: (37 years old)Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents.1969: (39 years old)Following his most successful year, Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners. Among the assets paid out were shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
1970: (40 years old)As chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, began writing his now-famous annual letters to shareholders.

1973: (43 years old)Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper, and became a member of its board of directors.

1979: (49 years old)Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC. With the stock trading at $290 per share, Buffett's net worth neared $140 million. However, he lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year.Berkshire began the year trading at $775 per share, and ended at $1,310. Buffett's net worth reached $620 million, placing him on the Forbes 400 for the first time.

1988: (58 years old)Buffett began buying stock in Coca-Cola Company, eventually purchasing up to 7 percent of the company for $1.02 billion. It would turn out to be one of Berkshire's most lucrative investments, and one which he still holds.

1999: (69 years old)Buffett is named the top money manager of the 20th century in a survey by the Carson Group, ahead of Peter Lynch and John Templeton.

2002: (72 years old)Buffett entered in $11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver US dollars against other currencies. By April 2006, his total gain on these contracts was over $2 billion.

2004: (73 years old)His wife, Susan, dies.

2006: (75 years old)Buffett announced in June that he would give away more than 85%, 37.4 billion worth of stock in Berkshire Hathaway, the company he runs — to five charitable foundations, with the greatest share, about $31 billion, going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is dedicated to improving health and education, especially in poor nations.

2007: (76 Years old)In a letter to shareholders, Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor or perhaps successors to run his investment business.Buffett had previously selected Lou Simpson, who runs investments at Geico, to fill that role. However, Simpson is only six years younger than Buffett.

2008: (77 Years old)Buffett becomes the richest man in the world according to Forbes

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Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican businessman largely focused on the telecommunications industry and is the second richest man in the world with a net worth of around US $60 billion through his holdings.Carlos has a substantial influence over the telecommunications industry in Mexico and much of Latin America as well.Carlos studied engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He married Soumaya Domit in 1967.On March 5, 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Carlos Slim Helú as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of former world's richest man Bill Gates.[1] During some parts of 2007, several major financial publications had ranked Carlos Slim Helú as the richest person on Earth.He has been vice-president of the Mexican Stock Exchange and president of the Mexican Association of Brokerage Houses. He was the first president of the Latin-American Committee of the New York Stock Exchange Administration. He is also the Majority Shareholder of CompUSA. In 1997, just before the company introduced its famous iMac line, Slim bought 3% of Apple Computer's stock, which has skyrocketed over the yearsAdditionally, as part of his philanthropic work, he heads the Latin America Development Fund project, and his foundations have more than 10 billion dollars budget for the next years.Bill Clinton has said: "Carlos Slim is the most important philanthropist in the world most people have never heard of"

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William Henry Gates III was born in Seattle, Washington on October 28th, 1955. Bill Gates came from a lineage of entrepreneurship and high-spirited liveliness.
Bill Gates : Before Microsoft On October 28, 1955, shortly after 9:00 p.m., William Henry Gates III was born. He was born into a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service.
Bill Gates - Microsoft Chairman - Chief Software Architect Use the toolbar to find information about Bill Gates' life, articles, speeches, interests and philanthropic efforts.
Bill Gates - Personal History "It's very interesting that even with all that money Bill drives himself to work in an average family car and he even flies coach."
Bill Gates - Work History "Although Bill Gates is known mostly for his founding of Microsoft he also has done a number of programming jobs before becoming the world's richest man."
Bill Gates - Personal Beliefs "He believes that if you are intelligent and know how to apply your intelligence you can accomplish anything."
Bill Gates - Industry History His first company was called Traf-O-Data.
Bill Gates - Activities Bill Gates is quite the giving man.
Books on Bill Gates Authorized and unauthorized books on Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman and the youngest self-made billionaire in history.
About Feature Stories On Microsoft and Bill Gates: MS DOS The Operating System History From a Quick and Dirty Operating System a giant walks (ms-dos), in 1980, IBM first approached Bill Gates and Microsoft, to discuss the state of home computers and Microsoft products.
Windows 1.0 To Windows Beyond 2000 Windows is the graphical user interface for IBM and IBM compatible machines, this article discusses the origins of Windows and where Windows is heading.
The IBM PC - History From a Acorn grows a personal computer revolution. In July 1980, IBM representatives meet for the first time with Microsoft's Bill Gates to talk about writing an operating system for IBM's new hush-hush personal computer.

William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955), is an American business magnate, philanthropist, the world's third richest man (as of 2008),and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the individual shareholder with the most shares, with more than 9 percent of the common stockHe has also authored or co-authored several books.
Gates was born in Seattle, Washington and excelled in school. He enrolled at Harvard College in 1973, where he met Steve Ballmer, who would later become CEO of Microsoft. After reading the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics, Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems and provided them with the Altair BASIC, and thus Microsoft was formed. This led to a partnership with IBM that required Microsoft to make the BASIC interpreter for the IBM PC. Later on, Gates struck another deal with IBM, allowing IBM to package Microsoft's PC-DOS software with IBM's personal computers in exchange for a fee paid to Microsoft for every computer sold. This deal established Microsoft as a major player in the software industry.
Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a large number of industry insiders criticize his business tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts.In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

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Steel giant Lakshmi Mittal placed fourth with 45 billion dollars

Lakshmi Mittal Biography (Lakshmi Narayan Mittal or Lakshmi Niwas Mittal) : Mittal Steel CompanyFamous for : The controversial "Garbagegate" scandal in Britain and being the 3rd richest man in the world in 2005. Mittal paid $128 for his Kensington Palace Gardens residence in London (nicknamed the Taj Mittal), which was the most expensive home in the world at the time.Mittal details : Born - 15th of June, 1950 Rajasthan, India / Lives - United Kingdom

Lakshmi Mittal heads the multi national steel company Mittal Steel that his father Mohan began. Mittal has grown the family business into one of the largest steel companies in the world, with steel making facilities in fourteen countries and employing more than 150,000 people. The Indian born, British based steel magnate was the third richest man in the world in 2005 according to the Forbes business magazine. Lakshmi Mittal saw his estimated wealth increase by $US18.8 billion in 12 months, due to surging steel prices and when he merged his Ispat International with Ohio-based International Steel Group. Mittal reportedly paid $US128 million for a twelve bedroom residence in Kensington Palace Gardens, London.

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Shri Mukesh D. Ambani is a Chemical Engineer from the University of Bombay and pursued MBA from Stanford University, USA. He is the son of Shri Dhirubhai H. Ambani, Founder Chairman of the Company. Shri Ambani joined Reliance in 1981 and initiated Reliance’s backward integration from textiles into polyester fibres and further into petrochemicals, petroleum refining and oil and gas exploration and production. In this process, he directed the creation of several new world-class manufacturing facilities involving diverse technologies that have raised Reliance’s petrochemicals manufacturing capacities from less than a million tonnes to about twenty million tonnes per year.
Shri Ambani directed and led the creation of the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India, with a current capacity of 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes per year) integrated with petrochemicals, power generation, port and related infrastructure.
Shri Ambani had set up one of the largest and most complex information and communications technology initiative in the world in the form of Reliance Infocomm Limited (now Reliance Communications Limited).
Shri Ambani is also steering Reliance’s initiatives in a world scale, offshore, deep water oil and gas exploration and production program, setting up of a second petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, development of infrastructure facilities and implementation of a pan-India organized retail network spanning multiple formats and supply chain infrastructure.
Shri Ambani’s accolades include:
Bestowed the US-India Business Council (USIBC) ‘Global Vision’ 2007 Award for Leadership in 2007.
Invited to be a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). He is the only Indian CEO to be a Council Member of WBCSD.
Conferred ‘ET Business Leader of the Year’ Award by The Economic Times (India) in the year 2006.
Conferred the Degree Honoris Causa, Honorary Doctorate by the Maharaja Sayajirao University in 2007.
Conferred the India Business Leadership Award by CNBC-TV18 in 2007.
Received the first NDTV-Profit ‘Global Indian Leader Award’ from Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Manmohan Singh in New Delhi in the year 2006.
Had the distinction and honour of being the cochair at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Ranked 42nd among the ‘World’s Most Respected Business Leaders’ and second among the four Indian CEOs featured in a survey conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and published in Financial Times, London, in November, 2004.
Conferred the World Communication Award for the ‘Most Influential Person’ in Telecommunications by Total Telecom, in October, 2004.
Conferred the ‘Asia Society Leadership Award’ by the Asia Society, Washington D.C., USA, in May, 2004.
Shri Ambani is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry, Government of India and the Board of Governors of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi. He is a member of the Indo-US CEOs Forum, the International Advisory Board of Citigroup, International Advisory Board of the National Board of Kuwait and McKinsey Advisory Council.
He is the Chairman, Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and a member of the Advisory Council of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. He is also a member of the Advisory Council for the Graduate School of Business of the Stanford University.
Shri Ambani is the Chairman of Reliance Petroleum Limited and Reliance Retail Limited and a Director of Reliance Europe Limited, and Pratham India Education Initiative.

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Born: June 4, 1959 Achievement: Chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group; Chosen as the 'CEO of the Year 2004' in the Platts Global Energy Awards and MTV Youth Icon of the Year' in September 2003 Anil Ambani is one of the foremost entrepreneurs of Independent India. He is the Chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Earlier, before the split in the Reliance Group, Anil Ambani held the post of Vice Chairman and Managing Director in Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). Born on June 4, 1959, Anil Ambani did his Bachelors in Science from the University of Bombay and Masters in Business Administration The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Anil Ambani joined Reliance in 1983 as Co-Chief Executive Officer. He pioneered India Inc's forays into overseas capital markets with international public offerings of global depository receipts, convertibles and bonds. Starting from 1991, he led Reliance in its efforts to raise, around US$2 billion from overseas financial markets. In January 1997, the 100-year Yankee bond issue was launched under his stewardship.After the split in Reliance Group, Anil Ambani founded Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. He is the Chairman of all listed Group companies, which include: Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Natural Resources Limited. Anil Ambai was elected as an independent member Rajya Sabha MP in June 2004. But he resigned voluntarily on March 25, 2006.Anil Ambani has won several awards and honours. Major among these include: 'CEO of the Year 2004' in the Platts Global Energy Awards, 'MTV Youth Icon of the Year' in September 2003, 'The Entrepreneur of the Decade Award' by the Bombay Management Association, and 'Businessman of the Year Award' by leading Business Magazine, Business India in 1997.

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Kamprad was born on a farm called Elmtaryd (now spelled Älmtaryd), near the small village of Agunnaryd of the Ljungby municipality in the province of Småland, Sweden. Kamprad began to develop a business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle. He found that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm, sell them individually at a low price and still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds and later ball-point pens and pencils. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him a reward for succeeding in his studies . He used this money to establish what has grown into IKEA.
The acronym IKEA is made up of the initials of his name (Ingvar Kamprad) plus those of Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born; and the nearby village Agunnaryd.
Kamprad has admitted that his dyslexia played a large part in the inner workings of the company. For example, the Swedish-sounding names of the furniture sold by IKEA were originally chosen by Kamprad because he had difficulty remembering stock keeping units (numbers).
Kamprad has lived in Epalinges, Switzerland since 1976. According to an interview with TSR, the French language Swiss TV broadcaster, Kamprad drives a 15 year old Volvo, flies only economy class, and encourages IKEA employees to always write on both sides of a paper.In addition Kamprad has been known to visit IKEA for a cheap meal. He is also known to buy Christmas paper and presents in the post-Christmas sales. While Kamprad's frugality is well documented, it is also an important part of the carefully managed image presented to IKEA employees and the general public. He less frequently mentions that he owns a villa in an upmarket part of Switzerland, a large country estate in Sweden and a vineyard in Provence in France or that he drove a Porsche for several years.
While working with furniture manufacturers in Poland earlier in his career, Kamprad became an alcoholic. He has however stated that his drinking is now under control.

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Property magnate K.P. Singh came in eighth on the list, with a fortune estimated at 30 billion dollars.

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Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska (Russian: Олег Владимирович Дерипаска) (born January 2, 1968 in Dzerzhinsk) is a Russian billionaire, tycoon, and the Chairman of the Board of RUSAL, a Russian aluminium industry company. His holdings provide him effective control of Russia's profitable metals sector.
Deripaska is the sole owner of the Basic Element investment firm, which owns En+ Group, an energy and aluminium business which is the controlling shareholder of United Company RUSAL

Education and early career
Deripaska is of Belarusian origin and was born Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, but he grew up in Krasnodar krai. He graduated with honours in physics from M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1993 and in 1996 he earned an economics degree from the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics. He was general manager of Sayanogorsk Smelter (1994-1997) and held the post of president of Sibirsky Aluminium (1997-2001).
In 1999, Deripaska was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples by President Boris Yeltsin.

[edit] Later career
In 2008 his fortune was accumulated to about $28 billion making him the richest man in Russia. In 2005 he was included in the Sunday Times Rich List (on account of the time he spends living in the United Kingdom) with an estimated wealth of £4,375m, but was not listed in 2006. However, according to an August 2006 article in the New York Times, the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti has estimated Deripaska's total wealth at $14 billion, which, if true, would either make him Russia's richest man or possibly tied for the spot with fellow multibillionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich.[2]
Deripaska has a London home at 6 Belgrave Square, which was originally the town residence of the Dukes of Bedford. In September 2006, Deripaska was rumoured to be interested in buying Arsenal F.C. for £350m.[3] However, Arsenal subsequently denied these claims.[4]
He has also been linked to the Russian silver mining company Polymetal.[5][6]
A law suit against Oleg Deripaska was filed in the Commercial Court of the High Court in London on 24 November 2006 by Michael Cherney, who had introduced Deripaska to the metals business by making him his manager and then his partner. Cherney is seeking $3 billion, which, he claims, represents 20 per cent of Rusal's stock for which he has yet to be paid.
Sources in Moscow allege that Oleg Deripaska is behind a new Russian media campaign that is targeting Michael Cherney. They also allege that the campaign is designed to send a message to the latter: a new criminal investigation against Cherney may be initiated in Moscow as a retaliation for his suit against Deripaska.
In 2005, David and Simon Reuben pursued legal action against Oleg Deripaska for alleged breach of contract worth up to $300 Million, The dispute was settled out of court after Oleg Deripaska ageed to a substantial settlement with the billionaire brothers.
In April 2007 Deripaska acquired 30% (1.05 billion €) of Austrian STRABAG SE which is owned by Hans-Peter Haselsteiner. STRABAG SE is the 6th largest construction business in Europe. He also bought big stakes in the German construction company HOCHTIEF. Insider plans saying that he planing forging with his own Russian operations, his stakes of STRABAG and HOCHTIEF and new construction giant.
In May 2007, Magna International chairman Frank Stronach announced that Deripaska was becoming a strategic partner in Magna, bringing with him to Magna the resources necessary to place a competitive takeover bid for Chrysler. [7]
He is currently the richest person in Russia according to an April 18, 2008 FORBES magazine report "with a fortune of $28.6 billion -- $11.8 billion more than he was worth last year."[8]
It is reported in May 2008, Oleg Deripaska has shown an interest in purchasing a English Premier League Football Club, and has been strongly linked to purchasing West Bromwich Albion FC.
In June 2008, West Brom announced that they are looking for Serious Investors and/or buyer and The Daily Mirror stated that the move of Oleg Deripaska taking over is a possibility. However, Deripaska has made no indication that he is interested in buying West Brom.

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Karl Hans Albrecht (born 20 February 1920) is a German entrepreneur who founded the discount supermarket chain, Aldi, with his brother Theo. He is among the richest men in the world, with an estimated net worth of $27.0 billion (2007). Albrecht is the wealthiest man in Germany.

Biography:
Karl and Theo Albrecht were raised in modest circumstances in Essen. Their father was employed as a miner and later as a baker’s assistant. Their mother had a small grocery store in the worker’s quarter of Schonnebeck. Theo completed an apprenticeship in his mother’s store, while Karl worked in a delicatessen shop. Karl also served in the German Army during World War II. After the end of World War II, the brothers took over their mother's business (1946). The first Aldi (Albrecht-Discount) was opened in 1961.
Aldi's operations were later divided between the brothers, with Karl taking control of the more profitable Aldi Süd (South), and Theo managing Aldi Nord (North).
Because Karl Albrecht has withdrawn himself from public life, little is known about him. He is married, and Forbes magazine reports that he has two children, neither of whom are employed by Aldi. Both Albrecht brothers reportedly live today in Essen, Germany. He is a fan of golf, and plays at his personal golf course, the Öschberghof, which he built in 1976. He also raises orchids.
In 1994, Karl Albrecht removed himself from the daily operations of Aldi Süd and took the position of chairman of the board. At the beginning of 2002, he also relinquished this position, thereby completely ceding control of the firm. Today, the business is no longer run by any of Karl Albrecht’s family members.