Warren Buffett Surpasses Bill Gates With $165 Billion Fortune – 'Berkshire Is A Stable Ship In A Sea Of Uncertainty'

Warren Buffett just leapfrogged Bill Gates to become the world’s sixth-richest person — and he did it the old-fashioned way: patience, discipline, and a mountain of cash. The 94-year-old investing legend has added a jaw-dropping $23 billion to his Fortune this year alone, boosting his net worth to $165 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Investors Are Clinging to Buffett Like a Lifeboat

At a time when markets are swinging wildly and Big Tech is taking some heat, investors are turning to Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway BRK BRK.B)) like he’s a financial North Star. Lountzis Asset Management President Paul Lountzis told Business Insider, “Berkshire is a stable, solid ship in a sea of uncertainty right now."

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That stability isn’t just hype. At the end of 2024, Berkshire had $334.2 billion in cash. The company also holds more than $272 billion in equities — including giants like Apple, Coca-Cola, and American Express.

Buffett has been running the show for 60 years. What started as a failing textile company is now a $1 trillion empire. The company now has holdings that span everything from See’s Candies to BNSF Railway to Precision Castparts. 

Berkshire’s stock has climbed over 5.5 million percent under his leadership — compared to the S&P 500’s modest 39,000% in the same timeframe, reported by Business Insider. That’s a 20% annualized return for six decades.

One of the recent engines of growth is none other than geico, Berkshire’s auto insurance arm. After years of lackluster performance, geico roared back in 2024 with a pre-tax underwriting profit of $7.81 billion according to Coverager — a 114.9% spike.

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Geico CEO Todd Combs, who helps manage Berkshire’s investments, has been tightening operations and updating its underwriting processes. In his annual shareholder letter to Berkshire investors, Buffett called geico “a long-held gem that needed major repolishing” and praised its turnaround as “spectacular.”

That boost helped Berkshire’s operating earnings soar 71% year-over-year to a record $14.53 billion in the latest quarter, outpacing even the so-called Magnificent 7 tech giants. ​As of the end of 2024, Geico's workforce had been trimmed to 28,247 employees, marking a decrease of more than 10,000 people since 2021.

Buffett’s strategy has always shone brightest during downturns. Back in 2008, while most investors were panicking, he was striking deals with Goldman Sachs, General Electric, Mars, Dow, and Swiss Re. Today, Berkshire’s $334 billion cash cushion gives Buffett — or, more accurately, his successor — room to repeat that playbook.

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