Warren Buffett statistics at a glance
Warren Buffett is one of the few business leaders whose numbers tell a story on their own.
The latest Berkshire Hathaway disclosures show a 94-year-old executive with decades of tenure, a fixed salary that has barely moved, enormous ownership influence, and a company whose scale still expands across insurance, railroads, energy, and a wide mix of operating businesses (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement; Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Fast facts
- Buffett was 94 years old in Berkshire Hathaway’s 2025 proxy statement (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- He had been a Berkshire director since 1965 and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1970 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- His annual compensation has been $100,000 for more than 40 years (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- His 2024 total compensation was $405,111, with no bonus and no equity-based compensation (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- His voting interest in Berkshire was 30.3% in 2025, while his economic interest was 14.3% (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- Berkshire’s shareholders’ equity reached $649.368 billion at December 31, 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
- Berkshire’s net earnings attributable to shareholders were $88.995 billion in 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
- Berkshire’s float was approximately $171 billion at December 31, 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Contents
- Leadership tenure and age
- Pay and compensation figures
- Ownership and influence
- Berkshire scale behind the Buffett numbers
- What the 2024 operating figures show
- Compact comparison table
- What these statistics say about Berkshire
- Key numbers to remember
Leadership tenure and age
Buffett’s statistics are unusual first because of the time horizon behind them.
Berkshire’s 2025 proxy statement says Warren E. Buffett was 94 years old, had been a Berkshire director since 1965, and had served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1970 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement). That means his Board tenure reached 60 years from his 1965 director start through 2024, again underscoring just how long his role has been embedded in Berkshire’s governance structure (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
Why the tenure matters
In most public companies, leadership continuity is measured in years, not decades. Buffett’s figures show a governance profile built around a single, long-running operating philosophy rather than repeated leadership turnover (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
The 55 years of experience he had as Chairman and CEO in the 2025 proxy statement is more than a biographical detail. It is one of the clearest signals in the data that Berkshire’s capital allocation approach has been shaped by long continuity at the top (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
Pay and compensation figures
Buffett’s compensation numbers are widely quoted because they are so small relative to Berkshire’s size.
The 2025 proxy statement says his annual compensation has been $100,000 for more than 40 years, and it lists his 2024 salary as $100,000 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement). It also shows his 2024 total compensation at $405,111, compared with $413,595 in 2023 and $401,589 in 2022 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
The striking point is not only the low salary, but the structure of the rest of the package.
- Buffett received no bonus in 2024 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- He received no equity-based compensation in 2024 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- Berkshire’s CEO pay-ratio disclosure said its median employee annual total compensation was $82,106 in 2024 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- The pay-to-median-employee ratio was 4.94 to 1 in 2024 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
A compensation profile that does not resemble the market norm
For most large companies, executive pay is heavily shaped by bonus plans, stock awards, and long-term incentives. Buffett’s numbers are almost the opposite: a fixed cash salary and no equity compensation in 2024 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
That creates a cleaner read-through for the statistic itself. The compensation story is not about annual incentive engineering. It is about how little the reported pay has changed even as Berkshire’s business footprint and shareholder value expanded dramatically (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement; Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Ownership and influence
The ownership numbers are where Buffett’s influence becomes easier to quantify.
Berkshire’s 2025 proxy statement says he beneficially owned 206,359 Class A Berkshire shares and 951 Class B Berkshire shares (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement). It also says his voting interest was 30.3% and his economic interest was 14.3% in Berkshire in 2025 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
That split matters.
Voting interest measures control influence, while economic interest measures financial participation. Buffett’s statistics show that his voting influence is much larger than his direct economic stake, which is a useful reminder that Berkshire’s governance structure is not a simple one-share, one-vote story in practice (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
Ownership signals in plain terms
- 206,359 Class A shares is a small share count by public-company standards, but Berkshire’s Class A structure gives those shares outsized voting power (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- 951 Class B shares add to the ownership picture, but they do not dominate the control story (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- Buffett was the beneficial owner of more than 5% of Berkshire’s Class A stock in 2025 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
Taken together, the data point to a founder-style control position that remains highly relevant even late in his career (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
Berkshire scale behind the Buffett numbers
Buffett’s personal statistics become more meaningful when they are set against Berkshire’s corporate scale.
At December 31, 2024, Berkshire shareholders’ equity was $649.368 billion, up $88.1 billion in 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report). Berkshire’s net earnings attributable to shareholders were $88.995 billion in 2024, and after-tax investment gains were $41.558 billion (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
The balance sheet also shows a massive liquidity position.
- Berkshire’s insurance and other businesses held $318.0 billion in cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury Bills at December 31, 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
- Berkshire held $287.0 billion in equity and fixed maturity securities excluding Kraft Heinz and Occidental at December 31, 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
- Berkshire’s float was approximately $171 billion at December 31, 2024, compared with $169 billion at December 31, 2023 and $164 billion at December 31, 2022 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Why float belongs in a Buffett article
Float is one of the most important Berkshire-specific statistics because it represents the insurance-related capital the business can invest before claims are paid (Berkshire 2024 annual report). The sequence of $164 billion, $169 billion, and $171 billion over three year-end snapshots shows the company retaining an enormous funding base even before considering operating earnings (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
What the 2024 operating figures show
Berkshire’s 2024 annual report gives a clear sense of operating breadth, which helps explain why Buffett’s low direct compensation can coexist with a sprawling enterprise.
The company generated $30.6 billion of net operating cash flow in 2024 and paid $28.5 billion of income taxes in 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report). It also reported $19.0 billion of consolidated capital expenditures, with BNSF and BHE accounting for $12.7 billion of that total (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Those numbers show a company that is simultaneously cash-generative, capital-intensive, and highly diversified.
Railroad and energy footprint
BNSF operated over 32,500 route miles of track across 28 states in North America (Berkshire 2024 annual report). Its 2024 railroad freight volumes totaled 9,589 thousand cars/units, led by 5,537 thousand in consumer products, 1,596 thousand in industrial products, 1,251 thousand in agricultural products, and 1,205 thousand in coal (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
BNSF’s railroad operating expenses were $15.9 billion in 2024, and its railroad operating expense ratio was 68.0% (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Berkshire also reported BHE aggregate borrowings of approximately $56.4 billion at December 31, 2024, while BHE subsidiaries issued $6.4 billion of term debt in 2024 at a weighted average interest rate of 5.4% and maturity dates ranging from 2029 to 2055 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Manufacturing, service, and retailing scale
Berkshire’s manufacturing revenues were $77.231 billion in 2024, while its service and retailing revenues were $138.672 billion (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Within manufacturing, industrial products revenue was $35.833 billion, building products revenue was $26.525 billion, and consumer products revenue was $14.873 billion (Berkshire 2024 annual report). The related pre-tax earnings were $6.017 billion for industrial products, $4.134 billion for building products, and $1.744 billion for consumer products (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Within retailing, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive represented 69% of Berkshire’s retailing group revenue in 2024 and operated over 80 auto dealerships (Berkshire 2024 annual report). Home furnishings businesses represented 17% of retailing group revenues in 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Compact comparison table
The following table condenses a few of the most useful Buffett and Berkshire statistics from the source documents.
| Category | Statistic | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Buffett age | 94 years old | Berkshire 2025 proxy statement |
| Tenure | Director since | 1965 | Berkshire 2025 proxy statement |
| Tenure | Chairman and CEO since | 1970 | Berkshire 2025 proxy statement |
| Pay | 2024 salary | $100,000 | Berkshire 2025 proxy statement |
| Pay | 2024 total compensation | $405,111 | Berkshire 2025 proxy statement |
| Pay ratio | Median employee compensation | $82,106 | Berkshire 2025 proxy statement |
| Ownership | Voting interest | 30.3% | Berkshire 2025 proxy statement |
| Ownership | Economic interest | 14.3% | Berkshire 2025 proxy statement |
| Equity | Shareholders’ equity | $649.368 billion | Berkshire 2024 annual report |
| Earnings | Net earnings attributable to shareholders | $88.995 billion | Berkshire 2024 annual report |
| Liquidity | Cash, cash equivalents and T-bills | $318.0 billion | Berkshire 2024 annual report |
| Float | Year-end float | $171 billion | Berkshire 2024 annual report |
What these statistics say about Berkshire
Buffett’s statistics are often treated as personal biography, but the numbers are really a shorthand for Berkshire’s operating model.
The compensation data show a leadership package that is unusually simple and stable: a $100,000 salary, no bonus, no equity-based compensation, and a 2024 total compensation figure of $405,111 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement). The ownership data show that Buffett still has substantial voting influence even though his economic interest is lower than his voting interest, which is important in a company with a distinctive share structure (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
The corporate data complete the picture. Berkshire’s 2024 shareholders’ equity of $649.368 billion, net earnings of $88.995 billion, float of about $171 billion, and cash and Treasury bill holdings of $318.0 billion all point to a business with major capital resources and broad operating reach (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
A few patterns worth noting
- Berkshire’s size is large enough that the compensation and ownership questions cannot be separated from balance-sheet scale (Berkshire 2024 annual report; Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- Buffett’s numbers are stable enough to create a multi-decade baseline, which makes year-to-year comparison especially useful (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- The operating business mix spans insurance, railroads, energy, manufacturing, retailing, and service businesses, so the statistics reflect a conglomerate rather than a single-industry company (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
Key numbers to remember
If you only keep a few Warren Buffett statistics in mind, these are the most informative ones from the source material:
- 94 years old in Berkshire’s 2025 proxy statement (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- Director since 1965 and Chairman and CEO since 1970 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- $100,000 annual compensation for more than 40 years (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- $405,111 total compensation in 2024, with no bonus and no equity-based compensation (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- 30.3% voting interest and 14.3% economic interest in Berkshire in 2025 (Berkshire 2025 proxy statement).
- $649.368 billion in shareholders’ equity at December 31, 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
- $88.995 billion in net earnings attributable to shareholders in 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).
- Approximately $171 billion of float at December 31, 2024 (Berkshire 2024 annual report).