Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A) Propels Warren Buffet Ahead of Carlos Slim As World’s Second Wealthiest Man

When people call you an ‘Oracle’, and you are working in the finance industry, Warren Buffet, CEO and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), will tell you that life doesn’t get any better, at least in terms of amassing huge sums of wealth. In a segment on CNBC, it was revealed that Buffet is now the second richest man in the world second only to the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) founder, Bill Gates.

Warren Buffet’s net wealth is estimated to be $74.4 billion, according to Forbes as quoted on CNBC which is $1.5 billion more than the Carlos Slim, whose number two spot Buffet just took over. Slim is the chairman and CEO of Telmex, America Movil and Group Carso and is known as Warren Buffet of Mexico. However, his equity positions couldn’t stand the tide of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s returns for the year.

Buffet’s holding company has done particularly well this year, as compared to the S&P 500, which is up about 12.5% for the year excluding dividend gains. It was mentioned on the segment that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s shares are up 28% for the year.

Slim’s wealth peaked in September this year, when he was the world’s richest person, a title that he held in 2007 and also during the 2010-2013 period. However, according to Forbes, his net wealth took a downswing of about $2 billion after a rather gloomy September for him, which didn’t turn out to be as bad for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s CEO.

This year also showed that there are certain things which are beyond the control of the Oracle of Omaha. Accounting errors leading to bloated profits by Tesco Corporation (USA) (NASDAQ:TESO) is the case in point. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) was the major shareholder of the retail chain and the holding company saw the value of its investment plummet following reports of management lapse. However, the draw down was still not enough to keep Buffet from his second spot on the list of world’s richest men.

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