Oh, it's good to be back.
Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), managed to claw his way back into the top 5 of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a list of the world's 500 richest people.
'A Large and Somewhat Strange Collection of Financial Assets'
Buffett made it to the top 5 spot with total net worth of $117 billion, up $7.79 billion year to date, edging by Google (GOOGL) Co-Founder Larry Page, who is in sixth place with a total net worth of $114 billion.
Microsoft's (MSFT) Bill Gates is holding the number 4 position with a total net worth of $126 billion.
Gates lost $12.5 billion year to date, while Page saw $14.8 billion go out the window.
This was the first time in a year that Buffett had ranked this high on the list having slipped as low as 11th in October.
"Many people perceive Berkshire as a large and somewhat strange collection of financial assets," Buffett said last month in his annual shareholders' letter. "In truth, Berkshire owns and operates more U.S.-based 'infrastructure' assets – classified on our balance sheet as property, plant and equipment – than are owned and operated by any other American corporation."
That supremacy has never been our goal, Buffett added, "it has, however, become a fact."
"At yearend, those domestic infrastructure assets were carried on Berkshire’s balance sheet at $158 billion," Buffett wrote. "That number increased last year and will continue to increase. Berkshire always will be building."
As to the secret of his success, Buffett said that urges college student to seek employment in both the field and with the kind of people they would select, "if they had no need for money."
"Economic realities, I acknowledge, may interfere with that kind of search," he said. "Even so, I urge the students never to give up the quest, for when they find that sort of job, they will no longer be 'working.'"
'I'm Glad This is Working Out For Someone!'
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment group filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday indicating it had added more than 61 million shares in Occidental last week for around $3.1 billion at an average price of around $50.87 each.
"Well I'm glad this is working out for someone!" one person said on Twitter.
"American oligarch," another tweeted.
Bear in mind that while Buffett's wealth was growing, tech billionaires such as Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and Amazon's (AMZN) Jeff Bezos have seen their net worths drop by 15% or more.
Not to worry, Musk fans; the Space X founder is still the top money dog in town with total net worth of $208 billion, down $62.2 billion since the year began.
Bezos came in second, with $162 billion, down $30.3 billion year to date. Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH (LVMHF) Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton SE, was in third place, whose net worth totals $128 billion.
The Billionaires Index can be fickle. Last month Meta Platforms (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg got booted off the 10 top list after shares of the Facebook parent took a ferocious beating.
Zuckerberg is in 13th place with a total net worth of $71.4 billion, having dropped $54.1 billion year to date.
