Investing

Warren Buffett's Base Pay Was Only $100,000

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: April 2, 2024 6:35 am

According to the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) proxy, Warren Buffett was paid only $100,000 in 2023. The company spent another $313,595 on security for its CEO. Buffett is among the world’s wealthiest people. According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, he ranks eighth with a net worth of $139 billion.

Buffett is also among several CEOs paid very little in annual compensation. Among those who made just $1 a year at some point are Steve Jobs of Apple, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, and Larry Page of Alphabet. All have two things in common with Buffett. Each founded his company, and each was, and still is, fabulously rich.

Berkshire Hathaway’s stock started last year at $313 and closed the year at $360. While it did not match the surge in mega-cap tech stocks, it beat the S&P 500.

Many investors do not invest in Berkshire Hathaway as a short-term holding. They buy the stock because of Buffett’s long-term skill of investing in public companies and buying other companies, many of which are private. (See which dividend monsters Warren Buffett loves.)

Since its founding in 1965, Berkshire Hathaway has had a 19.8% compound annual growth rate, while the S&P 500 is up only 9.9%. According to U.S. News & World Report, “For every $10,000 invested in Berkshire in 1965, investors would have $378.76 million by the end of 2022. S&P 500 investors would have $2.48 million.” It is hard to overstate how low Buffett’s pay is.