The Oracle of Omaha

WARREN BUFFETT is a billionaire US investor who famously follows the mantra "be greedy when others are fearful".

Ranked the world's richest man by Forbes with a net worth of $62 billion (€42 billion), he is the largest shareholder and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate based in Omaha, Nebraska, which owns more than 70 firms including Gen Re, one of the world's largest re-insurers, and executive charter airline NetJets. Berkshire also holds shares worth about $75 billion in firms such as Coca-Cola and American Express.

In 1962 Berkshire Hathaway was a struggling chain of textile manufacturers which Mr Buffett began to buy stock in and ultimately took control of. In the late 1960s Berkshire began to diversify into insurance, and the last textile plant closed in 1985.

After a quiet 2007 during which he complained that he couldn't find anything big enough to buy, Mr Buffett has agreed to acquisitions worth at least $25 billion this year.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the second largest shareholder in Berkshire and the two billionaires have pooled their philanthropic efforts.

Shares in Berkshire Hathaway, which traded at $133,200 yesterday, are the most expensive on the New York Stock Exchange. The Oracle of Omaha, as Mr Buffett is sometimes called, writes an influential annual letter to shareholders.