Warren Buffett To Millennials: ‘The Future Is Terrific’ (Forbes)
On Tuesday afternoon Warren Buffett sat down with Levo League, a “community of professional women seeking advice, inspiration, and the tools needed to succeed,” and fielded live questions from across the internet about everything from women in the workplace to his personal heroes. From his office in Omaha, America’s second richest man not only dispensed a bounty of practical career advice, but also outlined the personal philosophy that keeps him motivated and has inspired his advocacy of gender equality. During the second half of the hour long video chat Buffett responded to more than a dozen questions, posed by thousands of online mentees. He encouraged them to “hang around with people who are better than you are,” refine their communication skills, not to be afraid of failure and to “never give up searching for the job you’re passionate about.”
Spanx founder joins Giving Pledge (CNN)
Nine new signers of The Giving Pledge — the philanthropic effort initiated three years ago by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates — were announced today, and one of the billionaires signing is the 42-year-old founder of lingerie company Spanx, Sara Blakely. She starts off her letter — to be posted on the Giving Pledge website — in a way no other signer will be able to emulate. “Since I was a little girl,” she says, “I have always known I would help women. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would have started with their butts.” She refers to the start of Spanx, which got its inspiration when she needed a smooth undergarment to wear beneath a pair of dress pants and got the idea of cutting off the feet of a pair of control-top pantyhose and donning those. The only problem: The bottoms rolled up all night.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire sells 1.4M Moody’s shares (USAToday)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) has sold nearly 1.4 million more Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) shares, so it has unloaded more than 3 million shares of the credit ratings agency this month. But Warren Buffett’s company still controls 11% of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) because it continued to hold 25.3 million shares after the sales. Berkshire reported the latest transactions that happened between Thursday and Monday to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Berkshire used to own 48 million Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) shares in March 2009 before it started selling the stock. Berkshire generated roughly $84.5 million from the latest stock sales because it sold the shares at prices between $60 and $62.78 per share.
Warren Buffett is bullish on next Berkshire CEO; will that be Ajit Jain? (ET)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s reputation as a lender of last resort will get stronger under its next chief executive officer because the company will have more capital to deploy in times of crisis, Warren Buffett said. “Berkshire is the 800 number when there’s really sort of panic in markets,” Buffett, 82, the current CEO, said at the company’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, referring to digits used for toll-free telephone calls in the US. Buffett boosted returns at his company in recent years by injecting a combined $8 billion into Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) during the 2008 financial crisis and $5 billion in Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) in 2011 after the lender’s stock slumped. Investors have questioned whether similar opportunities will be available after the departure of Buffett, whose bets can boost market confidence.
Dolphins: Ross to Give Over $2 Billion to Charity (NBCMiami)
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is giving away half of his $4.4 billion fortune to charity as part of The Giving Pledge. Ross announced his commitment on Tuesday. He is one of nine new signatories of the pledge, a global initiative created by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates that aims to increase charitable donations by the world’s most wealthy individuals. “As a very young boy my uncle taught me a valuable lesson, the importance of giving back and using your impact and influence to make the world a better place,” Ross said in a statement released by the Giving Pledge.
