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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) \u2014 Billionaire investor Warren Buffett<\/a> said Saturday that he wants to step down as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway<\/a> at the end of the year. The revelation came as a surprise because the 94-year-old had previously said he did not plan to retire.<\/p>\n Buffett<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s richest people and most accomplished investors, took control of Berkshire Hathaway<\/a> in 1965 when it was a textiles manufacturer. He turned the company into a conglomerate by finding other businesses and stocks to buy that were selling for less than they were worth.<\/p>\n His success made him a Wall Street icon. It also earned him the nickname \u201cOracle of Omaha,\u201d a reference to the Nebraska city where Buffett<\/a> was born and chose to live and work.<\/p>\n Here are some of his best and worst investments over the years:<\/p>\n – National Indemnity and National Fire & Marine: Purchased in 1967, the company was one of Buffett\u2019s<\/a> first insurance investments. Insurance float – the premium money insurers can invest between the time when policies are bought and when claims are made – provided the capital for many of Berkshire\u2019s<\/a> investments over the years and helped fuel the company\u2019s growth. Berkshire\u2019s<\/a> insurance division has grown to include Geico, General Reinsurance and several other insurers. The float totaled $173 billion at the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n – Buying blocks of stock in American Express, Coca-Cola Co. and Bank of America at times when the companies were out of favor because of scandals or market conditions. Collectively, the shares are worth over $100 billion more than what Buffett<\/a> paid for them, and that doesn\u2019t count all the dividends he has collected over the years.<\/p>\n – Apple: Buffett<\/a> long said that he didn\u2019t understand tech companies well enough to value them and pick the long-term winners, but he started buying Apple shares in 2016. He later explained that he bought more than $31 billion worth because he understood the iPhone maker as a consumer products company with extremely loyal customers. The value of his investment grew to more than $174 billion before Buffett<\/a> started selling Berkshire Hathaway\u2019s<\/a> shares.<\/p>\n – BYD: On the advice of his late investing partner Charlie Munger, Buffett<\/a> bet big on the genius of BYD founder Wang Chanfu in 2008 with a $232 million investment in the Chinese electric vehicle maker. The value of that stake soared to more than $9 billion before Buffett<\/a> began selling it off. Berkshire\u2019s<\/a> remaining stake is still worth about $1.8 billion.<\/p>\n – See\u2019s Candy: Buffett<\/a> repeatedly pointed to his 1972 purchase as a turning point in his career. Buffett<\/a> said Munger persuaded him that it made sense to buy great businesses at good prices as long as they had enduring competitive advantages. Previously, Buffett<\/a> had primarily invested in companies of any quality as long as they were selling for less than he thought they were worth. Berkshire<\/a> paid $25 million for See\u2019s and recorded pretax earnings of $1.65 billion from the candy company through 2011. The amount continued to grow but Buffett<\/a> didn\u2019t routinely highlight it.<\/p>\n – Berkshire Hathaway Energy<\/a>: Utilities provide a large and steady stream of profits for Berkshire<\/a>. The conglomerate paid $2.1 billion, or about $35.05 per share, for Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy in 2000. The utility unit subsequently was renamed and made several acquisitions, including PacifiCorp<\/a> and NV Energy<\/a>. The utilities added more than $3.7 billion to Berkshire\u2019s<\/a> profit in 2024, although Buffett<\/a> has said they are now worth less than they used to be because of the liability they face related to wildfires.<\/p>\n – Berkshire Hathaway<\/a>: Buffett<\/a> had said his investment in the Berkshire Hathaway<\/a> textile mills was probably his worst investment ever. The textile company he took over in 1965 bled money for many years before Buffett<\/a> finally shut it down in 1985, though Berkshire<\/a> did provide cash for some of Buffett\u2019s<\/a> early acquisitions. Of course, the Berkshire<\/a> shares Buffett<\/a> began buying for $7 and $8 a share in 1962 are now worth $809,350 per share, so even Buffett\u2019s<\/a> worst investment turned out OK.<\/p>\n – Dexter Shoe Co.: Buffett<\/a> said he made an awful blunder by buying Dexter in 1993 for $433 million, a mistake made even worse because he used Berkshire<\/a> stock for the deal. Buffett<\/a> says he essentially gave away 1.6% of Berkshire<\/a> for a worthless business.<\/p>\n – Missed opportunities. Buffett<\/a> said that some of his worst mistakes over the years were the investments and deals that he didn\u2019t make. Berkshire<\/a> easily could have made billions if Buffett<\/a> had been comfortable investing in Amazon, Google<\/a> or Microsoft<\/a> early on. But it wasn\u2019t just tech companies he missed out on. Buffett<\/a> told shareholders he was caught \u201csucking his thumb\u201d when he failed to follow through on a plan to buy 100 million Walmart shares that would be worth nearly $10 billion today.<\/p>\n – Selling banks too soon. Not long before the COVID pandemic, Buffett<\/a> seemed to sour on most of his bank stocks. Repeated scandals involving Wells Fargo gave him a reason to start unloading his 500 million shares, many of them for around $30 per share. But he also sold off his JP Morgan stake at prices less than $100. Both stocks have more than doubled since then.<\/p>\n – Blue Chip Stamps: Buffett<\/a> and Munger, Berkshire\u2019s<\/a> former vice chairman, took control of Blue Chip in 1970 when the customer rewards program was generating $126 million in sales. But as trading stamps fell out of favor with retailers and consumers, sales steadily declined; in 2006, they totaled a mere $25,920. However, Buffett<\/a> and Munger used the float that Blue Chip generated to acquire See\u2019s Candy, Wesco Financial<\/a> and Precision Castparts<\/a>, which are all steady contributors to Berkshire<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2025 The Washington Times, LLC.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n