Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Billionaire Warren Buffett, the 'Oracle of Omaha,' is About $52 Million Richer Today on the Rise in Tesco PLC Stock Shares


As we've reported on Fresh & Easy Buzz before, one of the biggest individual shareholders in UK-based Tesco PLC is Warren Buffet, the world's second-richest person, friend of Bill (Gates, the world's richest person, not Bill Clinton) and founder and chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway holding company and investment firm based in Omaha, Nebraska.

Buffett holds about $1.3 billion worth of Tesco PLC stock, or about a 3% -to- 4% ownership stake in the company.

At least that was yesterday, before Tesco stock went up today by about 4-5 points on the retailer's strong annual sales and profit report.

In other words, Buffet who's also called the "Oracle of Omaha" and the "Sage of the Plains," is about $52 -to- $55 million richer today than he was yesterday.

We tried to get in touch with the "Oracle of Omaha," who we know checks out Fresh & Easy Buzz on occasion as part of the three -to- four hours of research he does everyday, but he wasn't available in his Omaha office. We did talk to a Buffett aid, and we might just have some comments from the "Oracle of Omaha" in the near future.

Of course, since the humble and down to earth Buffett isn't much into conspicuous consumption, we doubt if he's going through the Neiman Marcus catalog today picking out his next toys.

In fact, the "Oracle of Omaha" has pledged nearly all of his approximately $62 billion dollar fortune to his friend Bill Gates' foundation, to be used for global charitable projects in the areas of medicine, aids elimination and prevention and more. The money is being given in huge sums each year, as Buffet says he wants the foundation to get it before he dies.

But the "Sage of the Plains" keeps score by how much his stocks goes up, although he is a buy-and-hold investor. So today's increase in Tesco PLC's share price is music to the nearly 77 year old investor's ears.

In fact, since among the more than fifty companies Buffet's Berkshire-Hathaway holding company owns outright is the International Dairy Queen fast food chain--which Buffett says is his favorite place to eat when traveling--we bet upon hearing today's news about the rise in Tesco PLC stock the "Oracle of Omaha," who is on the road today, found the nearest Dairy Queen, pulled the car over and had an ice cream sundae with flavored syrup, whipped cream and a cherry which is his favorite treat, to celebrate the news.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi
Thanks for the info. I had no idea Warren Buffett was a Tesco investor. As I live in the UK and have a blog about Warren Buffett I should have known ! I'll be taking a closer look and maybe bying some Tesco shares :-)