Warren Buffett has been up there near the top of the world’s wealth league for decades. Now, his net worth has exceeded $100 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway, the source of virtually all of Buffett’s wealth, has had a good start to 2021. The firm’s A shares are up 15% this year, outpacing the 3.8% gain of the S&P 500 Index. That’s been helped by Buffett’s recent push to spend record amounts buying back Berkshire’s own stock, a notable shift for an investor who has preferred to use the $138 billion cash pile to buy other businesses. In 2020, Buffett spent a record $24.7 billion on buybacks and filings indicate he’s already bought at least $4.2 billion worth of stock through mid-February. Buffett added $1.9 billion to his fortune on Wednesday as Berkshire Class A shares hit a record high, h
The staggering amounts accumulated by the ultra-wealthy – $1.8 trillion by the world’s 500 richest in 2020 alone – highlights the K-shaped recovery that’s taking place as the U.S. emerges from the pandemic. While millions of disproportionately poor, working-class and minority people remain unemployed, the rich have seen incomes and net worth levels jump thanks to a buoyant stock market.
Meanwhile, more than 8 million Americans — including many children — fell into poverty in the second half of last year.
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