In 1942, at the tender age of 11, Warren Buffett purchased the first of the many shares he would accumulate throughout his career. "What I bought was three shares of Cities Service preferred stock,” he said in 2019. "I had become a capitalist and it felt good.”
Buffett didn’t reveal why he bought Cities Service, a company that would eventually become Venezuela-controlled Citgo Petroleum. But we can assume, going off his subsequent record, that he saw something in the company he liked.
With Japanese stocks finally hitting new records, the country is looking for its own young versions of Buffett today. The Nikkei 225, having finally reached a new all-time high, has broken 40,000 for the first time, but most of that is due to buying by foreigners.