No one is enjoying Berkshire Hathaway's run toward $1 trillion in the S&P 500 more than Warren Buffett. He has billions of reasons to celebrate.
Unlike other tycoons selling some of their stock positions, Buffett still retains a nearly 15% position in his famed investment holding company. That means his current stake in the company gained nearly $16.5 billion just this year to $134 billion. It's also nearly double the $78.9 billion value of Elon Musk's stake in Tesla.
"There's an old Wall Street saying which goes 'Never argue about investing with anyone who is far richer than you,' " said Nicholas Colas of DataTrek Research. "Warren Buffett deserves every bit of the respect he has earned over the decades."
Berkshire Hathaway's Run To $1 Trillion
Following a 13.6% rise in its shares this year, Berkshire Hathaway is now valued at $890 billion. That makes it the seventh most-valuable stock in the S&P 500.
Just this year, the company's value vaulted $113 billion. And Buffett is enjoying a nice slice of that. And it makes sense. Buffett's 15% stake in the company is much larger than what many other tycoons retain. Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com's founder, only owns 9% of his company following a number of sales. And Elon Musk now only owns 12.9% of Tesla.
Sharing The Berkshire Hathaway Spoils
But following Buffett, there's still plenty of Berkshire Hathaway gains to go around.
Vanguard is the No. 2 largest owner of Berkshire Hathaway at 6.8% of the company. It alone has gained $7.5 billion in value from its stake in the company. And rounding out the top three is another ETF giant BlackRock, which owns nearly 5% of Berkshire Hathaway. That stake rose $3.5 billion just this year in value.
There's no question Buffett keeps getting richer from his Berkshire Hathaway holdings. But he's at least bringing the investing public along with him.
Biggest Owners Of Berkshire Hathaway
| Holder | Common stock held (thousands) | % of shares owned | Gain in stake value this year ($ billions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warren Buffett (Chairman, CEO & President) | 216,637 | 14.9% | $16.5 |
| The Vanguard Group | 98,835 | 6.8 | 7.5 |
| BlackRock | 71,060 | 4.9 | 5.4 |
| State Street Global Advisors | 46,534 | 3.2 | 3.5 |
| FMR | 37,777 | 2.6 | 2.9 |
| Geode Capital Management | 22,793 | 1.5 | 1.7 |
| First Manhattan | 18,480 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust | 13,284 | 0.9 | 1.0 |
| Norges Bank Investment Management | 12,947 | 0.8 | 0.98 |
| Northern Trust Global Investments | 11,238 | 0.7 | 0.85 |
