Billions of reasons to smile.
Billionaire Warren Buffet just can’t lose. Or he certainly knows how to win. Whatever the case, Buffett came out on top Thursday, as the market closed with Buffett $661 million wealthier than he had been the day before. Just this week he announced that his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, would be ordering $9.6 billion-worth of private jets, and offered to purchase the mortgage division and loan portfolio of ResCap, a subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc.
Buffet’s Thursday performance topped Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires index, a report on the major holdings of 50 select billionaires. Not far behind on the list was Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who made roughly half a billion dollars as the company’s stock rose 3.7% on Thursday. Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, raised his net worth by $250 millon on Thursday, as shares of America Movil moved up in price.
The biggest loser among the group was Phil Knight, whose net worth dropped $205 million with Nike stock dropped $2.20 per share in just a day. The athletic equipment company had recently announced the sale of its Cole Haan brand and Umbro soccer gear division. Larry Ellison’s, Oracle holdings led to a loss of $111 million on Thursday as well. Orracle’s Settlement talks with HP over the Itanium business they share broke down that day, leading to a trial scheduled for later this summer.
