Warren Buffett Becomes Sixth Member Of $100B Wealth Club

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) chairman Warren Buffett became the sixth member of the $100 billion club on Wednesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

What Happened: Buffett’s net worth rose to $100.4 billion on Wednesday as the Class A shares of Berkshire hit a record high. It was for the first time ever that the 90-year-old Buffett’s net worth crossed the $100 billion threshold.

Buffett now joins five other billionaires in the $100 billion club. They include the world’s richest person Amazon Inc. AMZN CEO Jeff Bezos, Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft Corp. MSFT co-founder Bill Gates and Facebook Inc. FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Known as the “Oracle of Omaha”, Buffett added $1.9 billion to his net worth on Wednesday. Berkshire’s Class A shares have gained 15% year-to-date, far outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s gain of 3.8%.

The stock’s gains have been aided by Buffett spending record amounts on buying back the conglomerate’s own stock over the past year. Berkshire spent $24.7 billion on share buybacks last year.

In his annual letter to shareholders in February this year, Buffett hinted that more stock buybacks are to come.

See Also: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Cuts Apple Stake And Buys These Drugmaker, Telecom Stocks Instead

Why It Matters: Buffett’s entry into the elite $100 billion club comes even as the billionaire is known to be a generous donor. He is the co-founder of the “Giving Pledge,” which encourages billionaire philanthropy.  

Price Action: Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares closed 1.9% higher on Wednesday at $398,840. The company’s Class B shares also closed 1.9% higher at $263.99.

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