Top investor Warren Buffett has seen the shares of his investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway increase in value by more than 4 million percent since 1965. One of Berkshire’s early investors joined Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans this year.
Investor Stewart Horejsi and his family have an estimated net worth of $3 billion, ranking them 379th on the latest Forbes 400 list released this week.
Buffett himself landed fourth on Forbes’ list this year with a fortune of $121 billion, although he has donated more than half of his Berkshire shares to charity. Both he and Horejsi have seen their fortunes grow this year as Berkshire shares have soared to record highs in recent weeks.
Horejsi bought his first 300 Berkshire shares in 1980 at prices ranging from $265 to $330, he said in an interview with the Bloomberg news agency. Over time, he gradually increased his holding to 4,300 shares.
Berkshire’s Class A shares are now worth $522,000 each, valuing Horejsi’s shares at $2.2 billion. Horesji’s total family wealth is even greater, according to Forbes, at more than $3 billion.
Horejsi has attended more than 30 of Berkshire’s famous shareholder meetings, including some of the first meetings where just a handful of shareholders gathered on folding chairs in a cafeteria, he told Bloomberg.
The number of shareholders is now so large that the meetings are held in a sports arena in Buffett’s hometown of Omaha.
Buffett has allowed Berkshire to increase extremely in value by making acquisitions, investing successfully and concluding good business deals.
Berkshire Hathaway is worth about $750 billion. The investment vehicle has interests in numerous companies, including American insurer Geico, Apple and Coca-Cola.
Horejsi advises novice investors to invest in high-quality companies and hold stocks for the long term.