title: Disney+

text: In October 2022, Disney+ announced that it had acquired streaming rights, excluding the United Kingdom & Ireland (which remained to be streamed on BBC iPlayer), to the BBC series "Doctor Who" starting in 2023 with its upcoming fourteenth series with Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor.


title: Disney+

text: In April 2021, Disney and Sony Pictures reached a multi-year deal to let Sony's titles (such as films from the "Spider-Man" and "Jumanji" franchises, and anime licensed by Funimation/Crunchyroll like "Attack on Titan" and "") stream on Hulu and Disney+. A significant number of Sony titles began streaming on Hulu starting in June 2021. It includes films from 2022 onwards. While the deal only concerns the United States, titles from Sony Pictures begun to also be added to Disney+ in regions outside of the U.S., as early as June 2022, starting with the majority of the Spider-Man films.


title: Disney+

text: In European territories, Disney+ contains several locally produced content in order to fulfill certain countries' local content criteria's.


title: Disney+

text: In November 2021, Disney announced that StudioCanal's "Paddington" films would be released on Disney+ in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with the films also arriving on Germany and France eventually. Several other StudioCanal movies such as "Maya the Bee" are also available on the service.


title: Disney+

text: Films from Pathé such as "Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar", and "Chicken Run" are also available on Disney+ in select European territories.


title: Disney+

text: Entertainment One and Hasbro's "Peppa Pig" will also made available on the service in the United Kingdom, beginning in January 2023.


title: Disney+

text: Disney+ is available for streaming via web browsers on Windows and macOS PCs, as well as apps on iOS and Apple TV, Android and Android TV, Fire TV and Fire HD, Chromecast and ChromeOS devices, Samsung Smart TVs, LG webOS TVs, Vizio SmartCast TVs, Roku devices, Xfinity Flex, Sky Q, Now TV devices, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Windows 10 and Windows 11. Content available on Disney+ is also listed in the Apple TV and Google TV apps.


title: Disney+

text: Accessibility features include closed captioning, audio description (also known as described video), and audio navigation assistance.


title: Disney+

text: Disney+ allows seven user profiles per account, with the ability to stream on four devices concurrently and unlimited downloads for offline viewing. Content is able to be streamed in resolutions up to 4K Ultra HD in Dolby Vision and HDR10, with Dolby Atmos sound on supported devices. Legacy content and Disney+ originals are available in multiple languages. As of June 2022, the international version of the Disney+ app is translated in 21 languages (not including variants). A substantial amount of content is available in Hindi, Indonesian, Thai, Malay, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, and Marathi languages on the Indian and select Southeast Asian countries counterpart, Disney+ Hotstar. The localised Disney+ app around the MENA and South Africa features content in Arabic and Hebrew subtitles and dubbing. Many feature films and shows are available in two Arabic dub variants: Standard and Egyptian.


title: Disney+

text: In late May 2020, the service added the ability to switch between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios for early "Simpsons" episodes, after the service received backlash for stretching those episodes to 16:9 by default at launch. Disney had done this "in order to guarantee visual quality and consistency across all 30 seasons." To accommodate the feature, Disney Streaming Services "had to reconfigure its content-delivery engine" while ensuring the new feature would not break any existing features such as continue watching, watchlists, and auto-playing, as they did not want to treat the 4:3 versions as bonus content. The resulting changes allowed Disney to apply the existing audio, subtitle information, episode artwork, and other metadata from the episodes to both aspect ratios regardless of which is chosen by the user. Joe Rice, vice president of media product at Disney Streaming Services, added that these adjustments "opens up a number of exciting opportunities for novel ways of presenting content in the future."


title: Disney+

text: In September 2020, the service added the GroupWatch feature which allows up to seven different Disney+ accounts to link up and co-view programming with one another. Viewers are able to react to content with six different emojis, and control playback for the entire group. It is available on web browser, mobile app, smart TVs, and connected TV devices in the United States, and later expanded to Europe in 2020. The feature was previously tested in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.


title: Disney+

text: In November 2021, Disney and IMAX announced that 13 films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe would receive IMAX Enhanced versions on Disney+, that feature IMAX's 1.90:1 aspect ratio for scenes shot in or opened up for the format. This feature became available beginning on November 12, 2021, with the IMAX Enhanced versions also adding other features such as DTS audio at a later point, as well as all IMAX Enhanced titles still retaining other features from the standard widescreen versions, like Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.


title: Disney+

text: Disney+ was launched early in the Netherlands on September 12, 2019, as a free trial. It officially launched in the Netherlands, United States and Canada on November 12, 2019, just before 3:00 a.m. EST (). Disney+ launched in Australia, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico on November 19, 2019, and launched in Austria, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland on March 24, 2020. In the UK and Ireland, Disney+ replaced DisneyLife. In Spain, a linear Disney+ television channel launched alongside the streaming service. The channel is available exclusively on Movistar+, which serves as Disney+'s launch partner in the region.


title: Disney+

text: In December 2019, it was announced that Canal+ would be the exclusive distributor of Disney+ in France. The launch in France was delayed from March 24 to April 7, pursuant to a request from the French government to conserve network capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic placing additional strain on communications networks.


title: Disney+

text: In April 2020, it was announced that Disney+ original content would be licensed to pay TV and streaming operator OSN, starting on April 9, in 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region with Disney noting that they had no current "plan to launch Disney+ as a standalone service in the region in the near future".


title: Disney+

text: The service launched in Japan on June 11, 2020, as part of Disney's existing partnership with NTT Docomo, and succeeded the existing service in the region.


title: Disney+

text: Few months later, Disney+ service expanded in Portugal, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Greenland on September 15, 2020; and in Latin America and the Caribbean on November 17, 2020.


title: Disney+

text: On August 12, 2021, Disney announced that it would launch in the Middle East and Africa in mid-2022. Following the announcement, all the Disney+ original content has been removed from OSN, which its platform were previously host Disney+ original content through licensing since April 2020.


title: Disney+

text: It was announced that the service would also expand to Central and Eastern Europe, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, South Africa, and Turkey later in between 2021 and 2022. Among them, it has been confirmed that the service would launch on November 12, 2021, in South Korea and Taiwan, and on November 16, 2021, in Hong Kong. It will be available in more than 50 countries by 2022 and in more than 160 countries by the end of 2023.


title: Disney+

text: On March 29, 2022, Disney announced that it would launch the service in South Africa on May 18, 2022, in the Middle East and North Africa (excluding Syria) on June 8, 2022, in most of the remaining European countries on June 14, 2022, and in Israel on June 16, 2022.


title: Disney+

text: The service was also launched in the Philippines on November 17, 2022, in addition to mobile plan launch.


title: Disney+

text: Alongside the launch of the standalone Disney+ service in the U.S., Disney also announced a bundle including its other U.S. streaming services Hulu (ad-supported version) and ESPN+, marketed as The Disney Bundle, initially for US$12.99 per month; the monthly price of this plan subsequently increased to $13.99. Additional variants of the bundle were later added including the ad-free and Live TV variants of Hulu; then, in late 2021, Disney+ and ESPN+ became non-removable parts of the Hulu + Live TV package.


title: Disney+

text: In connection with the August 10, 2022, announcement of the ad-supported version of Disney+ launching on December 8, several new bundle options and increased prices were announced as taking effect the same day. Monthly prices for these plans range from $9.99 (for a new bundle with ad-supported versions of Disney+ and Hulu, but not ESPN+) to $82.99 (for Hulu + Live TV with ESPN+ and the ad-free versions of Disney+ and Hulu streaming content).


title: Disney+

text: Bundled options are also offered in Latin America incorporating Disney+ and Star+, as well as Lionsgate's streaming service Lionsgate+ (formerly Starzplay) in some countries of Latin America. In Brazil, there is also a bundle of Disney+ and Globoplay offered on Globoplay's website.


title: Disney+

text: In February 2020, Iger announced that it planned to launch Disney+ in India on March 29, 2020, by means of its existing service Hotstar, rebranding its paid tiers as a co-branded service. Hotstar was acquired by Disney during the Fox purchase, and has been the dominant streaming service in the country. However, it was postponed due to the Indian Premier League being rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then launched on April 3, 2020. A few months later, Disney+ launched in Indonesia through Hotstar on September 5, 2020.


title: Disney+

text: On February 25, 2021, it was reported that Disney+ was launched in Malaysia and Thailand through Hotstar within 2021. It was later confirmed that the launch would take place in Malaysia on June 1, 2021, and Thailand on June 30, 2021. Later on, there was a report stating the service is expected to launch in Vietnam in 2022, but due to numerous delays on the launch as most of its content is being added, the exact date remains unknown.


title: Disney+

text: The Disney+ service officially launched in the 17 MENA markets, including Israel, in June 2022. Although not branded as Hotstar, a variant of the Disney+ Hotstar app for non-PC devices was made available for these markets. It has the same user interface and login system as Hotstar but does not support the Disney ID SSO like the international version of the Disney+ app does. In fact, users in the MENA markets are met with an error message upon booting the international version of the Disney+ app, and MENA subscribers cannot access their accounts outside the region, and vice versa. This variant is also available for South Africa and the Philippines.


title: Disney+

text: Star, Disney+'s brand for general entertainment content launched on February 23, 2021, in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Star was added to Disney+ in Japan on October 27, 2021, and launched along with the service in South Korea and Taiwan on November 12 and Hong Kong on November 16 that year. Star was later introduced in South Africa, MENA and Eastern Europe in summer of 2022. Disney+ in Turkey and Greece will not be carrying the Star brand due to local channels having the name, it is called "More Entertainment", instead. It is also available in the Philippines since November 17, 2022.


title: Disney+

text: On November 13, 2019, a day after its launch, Disney announced that the streaming service had already signed up more than 10 million subscribers. Disney+ has been well-received, thanks to its affordable price and for the extensive Disney library. Frank Pallotta of CNN stated that "the company [Disney] has repackaged its trove of beloved content for the service makes it a worthy companion to the other services in the marketplace. Nick Pino of "TechRadar" stated, "If Disney keeps it updated with new content, Disney+ could rival Netflix sooner rather than later."


title: Disney+

text: Upon launch, Disney+ experienced significant technical difficulties. Users complained about receiving error messages that the service was down and that they were "unable to connect", which were irritating because many of them had paid for the service months in advance. In some instances, passwords needed to be reset to enable access.


title: Disney+

text: One other negative aspect with the launch of the service was the presentation of the non-HD episodes of "The Simpsons". Namely, that instead of presenting them in their original aspect ratio, they were either cropped to fit widescreen televisions or awkwardly stretched out to that aspect ratio. FXX's now-defunct "Simpsons World" streaming service was similarly criticized when it launched. In response, Disney stated they would make the ability to watch the episodes of the first 19 seasons and some from season 20 in either the 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio in early 2020. The feature was made available on May 28, 2020.


title: Disney+

text: Some have noted that episodes of "The Simpsons", "", "DuckTales", "Phineas and Ferb", "Kim Possible", and "" are presented almost entirely out of order, while some series are missing episodes. Others have questioned why an extensive catalog of Disney-owned material is missing from the platform, including older Disney-produced films, Disney Junior titles, Marvel content, some Muppets media, and the unreleased "Star Wars" animated comedy series "Star Wars Detours". On June 26, 2020, the 2017 "DuckTales" series had its episodes arranged in the proper order while co-creator of "Phineas and Ferb", Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, has stated that they are working on correcting the order of his series.


title: Disney+

text: Disney+ was the top trending Google search term in 2019 in the US. In February 2020, Disney reported that Disney+ had 26.5 million subscribers by the end of 2019, and 28.6 million by February 3, 2020. By April 2020, Disney+ had 50 million paid subscribers, with approximately 8 million of those coming from India. The service had 54.5 million subscribers by May 4, 57.5 million subscribers by the end of June, 60.5 million subscribers by August 4, 73.7 million subscribers by September 30, and 86.8 million subscribers as of December 2. In February 2021, Disney reported that Disney+ had 94.9 million subscribers as of January 2, 2021. On March 9, 2021, Disney reported that the service had surpassed 100 million paid subscribers but did not say when it had hit the milestone. The company clarified that it would now only be providing subscriber number updates when certain milestones are reached, as opposed to releasing exact numbers each quarter.


title: Disney+

text: In 2020, Apple Inc. named Disney+ the Apple TV App of the Year. It was the second and third most-downloaded free app of the year globally on the iPad and iPhone, respectively. It was also voted the best app of 2020 by Google Play users. In H1 of 2021, the app reached 125 million downloads.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth of over $100 billion as of November 2022, making him the world's sixth-wealthiest person.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He developed an interest in business and investing in his youth, eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring to and graduating from the University of Nebraska at 19. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing pioneered by Benjamin Graham. He attended New York Institute of Finance to focus his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships, including one with Graham. He created Buffett Partnership, Ltd in 1956 and his firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway, assuming its name to create a diversified holding company. In 1978, Charlie Munger joined Buffett as vice-chairman.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett has been the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970. He has been referred to as the "Oracle" or "Sage" of Omaha by global media. He is noted for his adherence to value investing, and his personal frugality despite his immense wealth.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett is a philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He founded The Giving Pledge in 2010 with Bill Gates, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, the second of three children and the only son of Leila (née Stahl) and Congressman Howard Buffett. He began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School. In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress, and after moving with his family to Washington, D.C., Warren finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School and graduated from what was then Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947, where his senior yearbook picture reads: "likes math; a future stockbroker." After finishing high school and finding success with his side entrepreneurial and investment ventures, Buffett wanted to skip college to go directly into business but was overruled by his father.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett displayed an interest in business and investing at a young age. He was inspired by a book he borrowed from the Omaha public library at age seven, "One Thousand Ways to Make $1000". Much of Buffett's early childhood years were enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures. In one of his first business ventures, Buffett sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola, and weekly magazines door to door. He worked in his grandfather's grocery store. While still in high school, he made money delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and stamps, and detailing cars, among other means. On his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route. In 1945, as a high school sophomore, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. Within months, they owned several machines in three different barber shops across Omaha. They sold the business later in the year for $1,200 to a war veteran.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett's interest in the stock market and investing dated to schoolboy days he spent in the customers' lounge of a regional stock brokerage near his father's own brokerage office. His father took interest in educating the young Buffett, at one point taking him to visit the New York Stock Exchange when he was 10. At 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself, and three for his sister Doris Buffett (who also became a philanthropist). At 15, Warren made more than $175 monthly delivering "Washington Post" newspapers. In high school, he invested in a business owned by his father and bought a 40-acre farm worked by a tenant farmer. He bought the land when he was 14 years old with $1,200 of his savings. By the time he finished college, Buffett had accumulated $9,800 in savings (about $ today).


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1947, Buffett entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He would have preferred to focus on his business ventures, but his father pressured him to enroll. Warren studied there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He then transferred to the University of Nebraska where at 19, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration. After being rejected by Harvard Business School, Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School of Columbia University upon learning that Benjamin Graham taught there. He earned a Master of Science in economics from Columbia in 1951. After graduating, Buffett attended the New York Institute of Finance.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett worked from 1951 to 1954 at Buffett-Falk & Co. as an investment salesman; from 1954 to 1956 at Graham-Newman Corp. as a securities analyst; from 1956 to 1969 at Buffett Partnership, Ltd. as a general partner; and from 1970 as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1951, Buffett discovered that Graham was on the board of GEICO insurance. Taking a train to Washington, D.C., on a Saturday, he knocked on the door of GEICO's headquarters until a janitor admitted him. There he met Lorimer Davidson, GEICO's vice president, and the two discussed the insurance business for hours. Davidson would eventually become Buffett's lifelong friend and a lasting influence, and would later recall that he found Buffett to be an "extraordinary man" after only fifteen minutes. Buffett wanted to work on Wall Street but both his father and Ben Graham urged him not to. He offered to work for Graham for free, but Graham refused.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker while taking a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. Using what he learned, he felt confident enough to teach an "Investment Principles" night class at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The average age of his students was more than twice his own. During this time he also purchased a Sinclair gas station as a side investment but it was unsuccessful.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1952, Buffett married Susan Thompson at Dundee Presbyterian Church. The next year they had their first child, Susan Alice. In 1954, Buffett accepted a job at Benjamin Graham's partnership. His starting salary was $12,000 a year (about $ today). There he worked closely with Walter Schloss. Graham was a tough boss. He was adamant that stocks provide a wide margin of safety after weighing the trade-off between their price and their intrinsic value. That same year the Buffetts had their second child, Howard Graham. In 1956, Benjamin Graham retired and closed his partnership. At this time Buffett's personal savings were over $174,000 (about $ million today) and he started Buffett Partnership Ltd.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1957, Buffett operated three partnerships. He purchased a five-bedroom stucco house in Omaha, where he still lives, for $31,500. In 1958 the Buffetts' third child, Peter Andrew, was born. Buffett operated five partnerships that year. In 1959, the company grew to six partnerships and Buffett met future partner Charlie Munger. By 1960, Buffett operated seven partnerships. He asked one of his partners, a doctor, to find ten other doctors willing to invest $10,000 each in his partnership. Eventually, eleven agreed, and Buffett pooled their money with a mere $100 original investment of his own.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1961, Buffett revealed that 35% of the partnership's assets were invested in the Sanborn Map Company. He explained that Sanborn stock sold for only $45 per share in 1958, but the company's investment portfolio was worth $65 per share. This meant that Sanborn's map business was being valued at "minus $20." Buffett eventually purchased 23% of the company's outstanding shares as an activist investor, obtaining a seat for himself on the board of directors, and allied with other dissatisfied shareholders to control 44% of the shares. To avoid a proxy fight, the board offered to repurchase shares at fair value, paying with a portion of its investment portfolio. 77% of the outstanding shares were turned in. Buffett had reaped a 50% return on investment in just two years.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1962, Buffett became a millionaire because of his partnerships, which in January 1962 had an excess of $7,178,500, of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Buffett. He merged these partnerships into one. Buffett invested in and eventually took control of a textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway. He began buying shares in Berkshire from Seabury Stanton, the owner, whom he later fired. Buffett's partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share. In 1965, when Buffett's partnerships began purchasing Berkshire aggressively, they paid $14.86 per share while the company had working capital of $19 per share. This did not include the value of fixed assets (factory and equipment). Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at a board meeting and named a new president, Ken Chace, to run the company. In 1966, Buffett closed the partnership to new money. He later claimed that the textile business had been his worst trade. He then moved the business into the insurance sector, and, in 1985, the last of the mills that had been the core business of Berkshire Hathaway was sold.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In a second letter, Buffett announced his first investment in a private business — Hochschild, Kohn and Co, a privately owned Baltimore department store. In 1967, Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents. In 1969, Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners including shares of Berkshire Hathaway. In 1970, Buffett began writing his now-famous annual letters to shareholders. He lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year and his outside investment income.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1973, Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper and joined its board. In 1974, the SEC opened a formal investigation into Buffett and Berkshire's acquisition of Wesco Financial, due to possible conflict of interest. No charges were brought. In 1977, Berkshire indirectly purchased the "Buffalo Evening News" for $32.5 million. Antitrust charges started, instigated by its rival, the "Buffalo Courier-Express". Both papers lost money until the "Courier-Express" folded in 1982.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1979, Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC. Capital Cities announced a $3.5 billion purchase of ABC on March 18, 1985, surprising the media industry, as ABC was four times bigger than Capital Cities at the time. Buffett helped finance the deal in return for a 25% stake in the combined company. The newly merged company, known as Capital Cities/ABC (or CapCities/ABC), was forced to sell some stations due to Federal Communications Commission ownership rules. The two companies also owned several radio stations in the same markets.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1987, Berkshire Hathaway purchased a 12% stake in Salomon Inc., making it the largest shareholder and Buffett a director. In 1990, a scandal involving John Gutfreund (former CEO of Salomon Brothers) surfaced. A rogue trader, Paul Mozer, was submitting bids in excess of what was allowed by Treasury rules. When this was brought to Gutfreund's attention, he did not immediately suspend the rogue trader. Gutfreund left the company in August 1991. Buffett became chairman of Salomon until the crisis passed.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1988, Buffett began buying The Coca-Cola Company stock, eventually purchasing up to 7% of the company for $1.02 billion. It would turn out to be one of Berkshire's most lucrative investments and one which it still holds.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett became a billionaire when Berkshire Hathaway began selling class A shares on May 29, 1990, with the market closing at $7,175 a share. In 1998 he acquired General Re (Gen Re) as a subsidiary in a deal that presented difficulties—according to the "Rational Walk" investment website, "underwriting standards proved to be inadequate," while a "problematic derivatives book" was resolved after numerous years and a significant loss. Gen Re later provided reinsurance after Buffett became involved with Maurice R. Greenberg at AIG in 2002.


title: Warren Buffett

text: During a 2005 investigation of an accounting fraud case involving AIG, Gen Re executives became implicated. On March 15, 2005, the AIG board forced Greenberg to resign from his post as chairman and CEO after New York state regulators claimed that AIG had engaged in questionable transactions and improper accounting. On February 9, 2006, AIG agreed to pay a $1.6 billion fine. In 2010, the U.S. government agreed to a $92 million settlement with Gen Re, allowing the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary to avoid prosecution in the AIG case. Gen Re also made a commitment to implement "corporate governance concessions," which required Berkshire Hathaway's chief financial officer to attend General Re's audit committee meetings and mandated the appointment of an independent director.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2002, Buffett entered in $11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver U.S. dollars against other currencies. By April 2006, his total gain on these contracts was over $2 billion. Buffett announced in June 2006 that he would gradually give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, starting in July 2006—the largest contribution going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2007, in a letter to shareholders, Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor, or perhaps successors, to run his investment business.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett ran into criticism during the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 and 2008, part of the Great Recession starting in 2007, that he had allocated capital too early resulting in suboptimal deals. "Buy American. I am." he wrote for an opinion piece published in the "New York Times" in 2008. Buffett called the downturn in the financial sector that started in 2007 "poetic justice". Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway suffered a 77% drop in earnings during Q3 2008 and several of his later deals suffered large mark-to-market losses.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Berkshire Hathaway acquired 10% perpetual preferred stock of Goldman Sachs. Some of Buffett's put options (European exercise at expiry only) that he wrote (sold) were running at around $6.73 billion mark-to-market losses as of late 2008. The scale of the potential loss prompted the SEC to demand that Berkshire produce, "a more robust disclosure" of factors used to value the contracts. Buffett also helped Dow Chemical pay for its $18.8 billion takeover of Rohm & Haas. He thus became the single largest shareholder in the enlarged group with his Berkshire Hathaway, which provided $3 billion, underlining his instrumental role during the crisis in debt and equity markets.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2008, Buffett became the richest person in the world, with a total net worth estimated at $62 billion by Forbes and at $58 billion by Yahoo, overtaking Bill Gates, who had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years. In 2009, Gates regained the top position on the Forbes list, with Buffett shifted to second place. Both of the men's values dropped, to $40 billion and $37 billion respectively—according to Forbes, Buffett lost $25 billion over a 12-month period during 2008/2009.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In October 2008, the media reported that Buffett had agreed to buy General Electric (GE) preferred stock. The operation included special incentives: He received an option to buy three billion shares of GE stock, at $22.25, over the five years following the agreement, and Buffett also received a 10% dividend (callable within three years). In February 2009, Buffett sold some Procter & Gamble Co. and Johnson & Johnson shares from his personal portfolio.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In addition to suggestions of mistiming, the wisdom in keeping some of Berkshire's major holdings, including The Coca-Cola Company, which in 1998 peaked at $86, raised questions. Buffett discussed the difficulties of knowing when to sell in the company's 2004 annual report:


title: Warren Buffett

text: That may seem easy to do when one looks through an always-clean, rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, however, it's the windshield through which investors must peer, and that glass is invariably fogged.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In March 2009, Buffett said in a cable television interview that the economy had "fallen off a cliff ... Not only has the economy slowed down a lot, but people have really changed their habits like I haven't seen". Additionally, Buffett feared that inflation levels that occurred in the 1970s—which led to years of painful stagflation—might re-emerge.


title: Warren Buffett

text: On August 14, 2014, the price of Berkshire Hathaway's shares hit $200,000 a share for the first time, capitalizing the company at $328 billion. While Buffett had given away much of his stock to charities by this time, he still held 321,000 shares worth $64.2 billion. On August 20, 2014, Berkshire Hathaway was fined $896,000 for failing to report December 9, 2013, purchase of shares in USG Corporation as required.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2009, Buffett invested $2.6 billion as a part of Swiss Re's campaign to raise equity capital. Berkshire Hathaway already owned a 3% stake, with rights to own more than 20%. Also in 2009, Buffett acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for $34 billion in cash and stock. Alice Schroeder, author of "Snowball", said that a key reason for the purchase was to diversify Berkshire Hathaway from the financial industry. Measured by market capitalization in the Financial Times Global 500, Berkshire Hathaway was the eighteenth largest corporation in the world as of June 2009.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2009, Buffett divested his failed investment in ConocoPhillips, saying to his Berkshire investors,


title: Warren Buffett

text: I bought a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak. I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year. I still believe the odds are good that oil sells far higher in the future than the current $40–$50 price. But so far I have been dead wrong. Even if prices should rise, moreover, the terrible timing of my purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars.


title: Warren Buffett

text: The merger with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) closed upon BNSF shareholder approval during Q1 of 2010. This deal was valued at approximately $44 billion (with $10 billion of outstanding BNSF debt) and represented an increase of the previously existing stake of 22%.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In June 2010, Buffett defended the credit-rating agencies for their role in the US financial crisis, claiming:


title: Warren Buffett

text: Very, very few people could appreciate the bubble. That's the nature of bubbles – they're mass delusions.


title: Warren Buffett

text: On March 18, 2011, Goldman Sachs was given Federal Reserve approval to buy back Berkshire's preferred stock in Goldman. Buffett had been reluctant to give up the stock, which averaged $1.4 million in dividends per day, saying:


title: Warren Buffett

text: I'm going to be the Osama bin Laden of capitalism. I'm on my way to an unknown destination in Asia where I'm going to look for a cave. If the U.S. Armed forces can't find Osama bin Laden in 10 years, let Goldman Sachs try to find me.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In November 2011, it was announced that over the course of the previous eight months, Buffett had bought 64 million shares of International Business Machine Corp (IBM) stock, worth around $11 billion. This unanticipated investment raised his stake in the company to around 5.5 percent—the largest stake in IBM alongside that of State Street Global Advisors. Buffett had said on numerous prior occasions that he would not invest in technology because he did not fully understand it, so the move came as a surprise to many investors and observers. During the interview, in which he revealed the investment to the public, Buffett stated that he was impressed by the company's ability to retain corporate clients and said, "I don't know of any large company that really has been as specific on what they intend to do and how they intend to do it as IBM."


title: Warren Buffett

text: In May 2012, Buffett's acquisition of Media General, consisting of 63 newspapers in the south-eastern U.S., was announced. The company was the second news print purchase made by Buffett in one year.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Interim publisher James W. Hopson announced on July 18, 2013, that the "Press of Atlantic City" would be sold to Buffett's BH Media Group by ABARTA, a private holding company based in Pittsburgh, U.S. At the Berkshire shareholders meeting in May 2013, Buffett explained that he did not expect to "move the needle" at Berkshire with newspaper acquisitions, but he anticipates an annual return of 10 percent. The "Press of Atlantic City" became Berkshire's 30th daily newspaper, following other purchases such as Virginia, U.S.' "Roanoke Times" and "The Tulsa World" in Oklahoma, U.S.


title: Warren Buffett

text: During a presentation to Georgetown University students in Washington, D.C., in late September 2013, Buffett compared the U.S. Federal Reserve to a hedge fund and stated that the bank is generating "$80 billion or $90 billion a year probably" in revenue for the U.S. government. Buffett also advocated further on the issue of wealth equality in society:


title: Warren Buffett

text: We have learned to turn out lots of goods and services, but we haven't learned as well how to have everybody share in the bounty. The obligation of a society as prosperous as ours is to figure out how nobody gets left too far behind.


title: Warren Buffett

text: After the difficulties of the economic crisis, Buffett managed to bring its company back to its pre-recession standards: in Q2 2014, Berkshire Hathaway made $6.4 billion in net profit, the most it had ever made in a three-month period.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In a June 2021 interview with CNBC, Buffet said that the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased economic inequality and bemoaned that most people are unaware that "hundreds of thousands or millions" of small businesses have been negatively impacted. He also stated that the markets and the economy will likely be unpredictable well into the post-pandemic recovery period, even with the Biden administration and the United States Federal Reserve having a plan in place. He said the unpredictability and the effects of COVID-19 are far from over.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Warren Buffett's writings include his annual reports and various articles. Buffett is recognized by communicators as a great story-teller, as evidenced by his annual letters to shareholders. He has warned about the pernicious effects of inflation:


title: Warren Buffett

text: In his article, "The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville", Buffett rebutted the academic efficient-market hypothesis, that beating the S&P 500 was "pure chance", by highlighting the results achieved by a number of students of the Graham and Dodd value investing school of thought. In addition to himself, Buffett named Walter J. Schloss, Tom Knapp, Ed Anderson (Tweedy, Browne LLC), William J. Ruane (Sequoia Fund), Charlie Munger (Buffett's partner at Berkshire), Rick Guerin (Pacific Partners Ltd.), and Stan Perlmeter (Perlmeter Investments). In his November 1999 "Fortune" article, he warned of investors' unrealistic expectations:


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett has been a supporter of index funds for people who are either not interested in managing their own money or don't have the time. Buffett is skeptical that active management can outperform the market in the long run, and has advised both individual and institutional investors to move their money to low-cost index funds that track broad, diversified stock market indices. Buffett said in one of his letters to shareholders that "when trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients." In 2007, Buffett made a bet with numerous managers that a simple S&P 500 index fund will outperform hedge funds that charge exorbitant fees. By 2017, the index fund was outperforming every hedge fund that made the bet against Buffett.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffet has a long-standing aversion to using the services of investment banks via Berkshire Hathaway. This dynamic was also reported in Barron's, Insider, and Seeking Alpha, among others.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1949, Buffett developed a crush on a young woman whose boyfriend had a ukulele. In an attempt to compete, he bought one of the instruments and has been playing it ever since. Though the attempt to capture her attention was unsuccessful, his music interest became a key part of his becoming a part of Susan Thompson's life, and led to their marriage. Buffett often plays the instrument at stockholder meetings and other opportunities. His love of the instrument led to the commissioning of two custom Dairy Queen ukuleles by Dave Talsma, one of which was auctioned for charity.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett married Susan Buffett (born Thompson) in 1952. They had three children, Susie, Howard and Peter. The couple began living separately in 1977, although they remained married until Susan Buffett's death in July 2004. Their daughter, Susie, lives in Omaha, is a national board member of Girls, Inc., and does charitable work through the Susan A. Buffett Foundation.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2006, on his 76th birthday, Buffett married his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, who was then 60 years old—she had lived with him since his wife's departure to San Francisco in 1977. Susan had arranged for the two to meet before she left Omaha to pursue her singing career. All three were close and Christmas cards to friends were signed "Warren, Susie and Astrid". Susan briefly discussed this relationship in an interview on the "Charlie Rose Show" shortly before her death, in a rare glimpse into Buffett's personal life.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett disowned his son Peter's adopted daughter, Nicole, in 2006 after she participated in the Jamie Johnson documentary "The One Percent" about the growing economic inequality between the wealthy and the average citizen in the United States. Although his first wife referred to Nicole as one of her "adored grandchildren", Buffett wrote Nicole a letter stating, "I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin."


title: Warren Buffett

text: His 2006 annual salary was about $100,000, which is small compared to senior executive remuneration in comparable companies. In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $175,000, which included a base salary of just $100,000. He continued to live in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, a fraction of today's value. He also owned a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California, which he purchased for $150,000 in 1971. He sold it for $7.5 million in 2018. In 1989, after spending nearly $6.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a private jet, Buffett named it "The Indefensible". This act was a break from his past condemnation of extravagant purchases by other CEOs and his history of using more public transportation.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett is an avid bridge player, which he plays with fellow fan Gates—he is said to spend 12 hours a week playing the game. In 2006, he sponsored a bridge match for the Buffett Cup. Modeled on the Ryder Cup in golf—held immediately before it in the same city—the teams are chosen by invitation, with a female team and five male teams provided by each country.


title: Warren Buffett

text: He is a dedicated, lifelong follower of Nebraska football, and attends as many games as his schedule permits. He supported the hire of Bo Pelini, following the 2007 season, stating, "It was getting kind of desperate around here". He watched the 2009 game against Oklahoma from the Nebraska sideline, after being named an honorary assistant coach.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett worked with Christopher Webber on an animated series called "Secret Millionaires Club" with chief Andy Heyward of DiC Entertainment. The series features Buffett and Munger and teaches children healthy financial habits.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett was raised as a Presbyterian, but has since described himself as agnostic. In December 2006, it was reported that Buffett did not carry a mobile phone, did not have a computer at his desk, and drove his own automobile, a Cadillac DTS. In contrast to that, at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting, he stated he uses Google as his preferred search engine. In 2013 he had an old Nokia flip phone and had sent one email in his entire life. In February 2020, Buffett revealed in a CNBC interview that he had traded in his flip phone for an iPhone 11. Buffett reads five newspapers every day, beginning with the "Omaha World Herald", which his company acquired in 2011.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett's speeches are known for mixing business discussions with humor. Each year, Buffett presides over Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting in the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska, an event drawing over 20,000 visitors from both the United States and abroad, giving it the nickname "Woodstock of Capitalism". Berkshire's annual reports and letters to shareholders, prepared by Buffett, frequently receive coverage by the financial media. Buffett's writings are known for containing quotations from sources as varied as the Bible and Mae West, as well as advice in a folksy, Midwestern style and numerous jokes.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In April 2017, Buffett (an avid Coca-Cola drinker and shareholder in the company) agreed to have his likeness placed on Cherry Coke products in China. Buffett was not compensated for this advertisement.


title: Warren Buffett

text: On April 11, 2012, Buffett was diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer during a routine test. He announced he would begin two months of daily radiation treatment from mid-July. In a letter to shareholders, Buffett said he felt "great – as if I were in my normal excellent health – and my energy level is 100 percent." On September 15, 2012, Buffett announced that he had completed the full 44-day radiation treatment cycle, saying "it's a great day for me" and "I am so glad to say that's over."


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2008, Buffett was ranked by "Forbes" as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately $62 billion. In 2009, after donating billions of dollars to charity, he was ranked as the second richest man in the United States with a net worth of $37 billion with only Bill Gates ranked higher than Buffett. His net worth had risen to $58.5 billion as of September 2013.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 1999, Buffett was named the top money manager of the Twentieth Century in a survey by the Carson Group, ahead of Peter Lynch and John Templeton. In 2007, he was listed among "Time" 100 Most Influential People in the world. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Buffett, along with Bill Gates, was named the most influential global thinker in Foreign Policy's 2010 report.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett has written several times of his belief that, in a market economy, the rich earn outsized rewards for their talents. His children will not inherit a significant proportion of his wealth. He once commented, "I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing".


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett had long stated his intention to give away his fortune to charity, and in June 2006, he announced a new plan to give 83% of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). He pledged about the equivalent of 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (worth approximately $30.7 billion as of June 23, 2006), making it the largest charitable donation in history, and Buffett one of the leaders of philanthrocapitalism. The foundation will receive 5% of the total each July, beginning in 2006. The pledge is conditional upon three requirements:


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett joined the Gates Foundation's board, but did not plan to be actively involved in the foundation's investments. Buffett announced his resignation as a trustee of the Gates Foundation on June 23, 2021.


title: Warren Buffett

text: This represented a significant shift from Buffett's previous statements, to the effect that most of his fortune would pass to his Buffett Foundation. The bulk of the estate of his wife, valued at $2.6 billion, went there when she died in 2004. He also pledged $50 million to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in Washington, where he began serving as an adviser in 2002.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2006, he auctioned his 2001 Lincoln Town Car on eBay to raise money for Girls, Inc. In 2007, he auctioned a luncheon with himself that raised a final bid of $650,100 for the Glide Foundation. Later auctions raised $2.1 million $1.7 million and $3.5 million. The winners traditionally dine with Buffett at New York's Smith and Wollensky steak house. The restaurant donates at least $10,000 to Glide each year to host the meal.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2009, Ralph Nader wrote the book "Only the Super Rich Can Save Us", a novel about "a movement of billionaires led by Warren Buffett and featuring, among others, Ted Turner, George Soros and Barry Diller, who use their fortunes to clean up America." On C-SPAN BookTV, Nader said Buffett invited him to breakfast after the book came out and was "quite intrigued by the book." He also told Nader of his plan to get "billionaires all over the world to donate 50% of their estate to charity or good works." On December 9, 2010, Buffett, Bill Gates, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed a promise they called the "Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge", in which they promise to donate to charity at least half of their wealth, and invite other wealthy people to follow suit. In 2018, after making almost $3.4 billion donations, Buffett was ranked 3rd in the "Forbes"' List of Billionaire 2018.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Warren Buffett continues to help fund and support his family's individual foundations which include Susan Buffett's "Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation", Susan Alice Buffett's "Sherwood Foundation", Howard Graham Buffett's "Howard G. Buffett Foundation", and Peter Buffett's "NoVo Foundation". Warren Buffett was also supportive of his sister Doris Buffett's "Letters Foundation" and "Learning By Giving Foundation".


title: Warren Buffett

text: In November 2022, Warren Buffett made a donation of $750 million in Berkshire Hathaway shares to four charitable foundations run by his children. 1.5 million Class B shares of his conglomerate to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his first wife. He also transferred 300,000 Class B shares each to three funds managed by his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In addition to political contributions over the years, Buffett endorsed and made campaign contributions to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. On July 2, 2008, Buffett attended a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Obama's campaign in Chicago. Buffett intimated that John McCain's views on social justice were so far from his own that McCain would need a "lobotomy" for Buffett to change his endorsement. During the second 2008 U.S. presidential debate, McCain and Obama, after being asked first by presidential debate mediator Tom Brokaw, both mentioned Buffett as a possible future Secretary of the Treasury. Later, in the third and final presidential debate, Obama mentioned Buffett as a potential economic advisor. Buffett was also a financial advisor to Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 California gubernatorial election.


title: Warren Buffett

text: On December 16, 2015, Buffett endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president. On August 1, 2016, Buffett challenged Donald Trump to release his tax returns. On October 10, 2016, after a reference to him in the second presidential debate, Buffett released his own tax return. He said he had paid $1.85 million in federal income taxes in 2015 on an adjusted gross income of $11.6 million, meaning he had an effective federal income tax rate of around 16 percent. Buffett also said he had made more than $2.8 billion worth of donations last year. In response to Trump saying he was unable to release his tax information due to being under audit, Buffett said, "I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump — at least he would have no legal problem."


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett has said he would judge President Donald Trump by his results on national safety, economic growth and economic participation when deciding if he would vote for him in the 2020 presidential election.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett described the health care reform under President Barack Obama as insufficient to deal with the costs of health care in the US, though he supports its aim of expanding health insurance coverage. Buffett compared health care costs to a tapeworm, saying that they compromise US economic competitiveness by increasing manufacturing costs. Buffett said in 2010 that it was not sustainable for the U.S. to devote 17% of its GDP to healthcare expenditure, noting that many other nations spent a much smaller proportion of their GDP on health expenditures, with better healthcare outcomes. Buffett said "If you want the very best, I mean if you want to spend a million dollars to prolong your life 3 months in a coma or something then the US is probably the best", but he also said that other countries spend much less and receive much more in health care value (visits, hospital beds, doctors and nurses per capita).


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett faults the incentives in the United States medical industry, that payers reimburse doctors for procedures (fee-for-service) leading to unnecessary care (overutilization), instead of paying for results. He cited Atul Gawande's 2009 article in the "New Yorker" as a useful consideration of US health care, with its documentation of unwarranted variation in Medicare expenditures between McAllen, Texas and El Paso, Texas. Buffett raised the problem of lobbying by the medical industry, saying that they are very focused on maintaining their income.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett has expressed concerns about unchecked population growth. In 2009, he met with several other billionaires to discuss healthcare, education and slowing population growth. Called "The Good Club" by an insider, the billionaires had given away $45 billion to philanthropic causes and included Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bloomberg and David Rockefeller, Jr. The meeting has drawn criticism from some right-wing blogs, with some believing the group to be a part of a secret sterilization society.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett is a long time supporter of family planning. The Buffett Foundation has given over $1.5 billion to abortion research to include $427 million to Planned Parenthood.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett stated that he only paid 19 percent of his income for 2006 ($48.1 million) in total federal taxes (due to their source as dividends and capital gains), while his employees paid 33 percent of theirs, despite making much less money. "How can this be fair?" Buffett asked, regarding how little he pays in taxes compared to his employees. "How can this be right?" He also added, "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." After Donald Trump accused him of taking "massive deductions," Buffett countered, "I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward."


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett favors the inheritance tax, saying that repealing it would be like "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics". In 2007, Buffett testified before the Senate and urged them to preserve the estate tax so as to avoid a plutocracy. Some critics argued that Buffett (through Berkshire Hathaway) has a personal interest in the continuation of the estate tax, since Berkshire Hathaway benefited from the estate tax in past business dealings and had developed and marketed insurance policies to protect policy holders against future estate tax payments.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett believes government should not be in the business of gambling, or legalizing casinos, calling it a tax on ignorance.


title: Warren Buffett

text: The trade deficit induced Buffett to enter the foreign currency market for the first time in 2002. He substantially reduced his stake in 2005 as changing interest rates increased the costs of holding currency contracts. Buffett remained bearish on the dollar, stating that he was looking to acquire companies with substantial foreign revenues. Buffett has been critical of gold as an investment, with his critique being based primarily on its non-productive nature. In a 1998 address at Harvard, Buffett said:


title: Warren Buffett

text: It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Stocks are probably still the best of all the poor alternatives in an era of inflation – at least they are if you buy in at appropriate prices.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Buffett invested in PetroChina Company Limited and in a rare move, posted a commentary on Berkshire Hathaway's website stating why he would not divest over its connection with the Sudanese civil war that caused Harvard to divest. He sold this stake soon afterwards, sparing him the billions of dollars he would have lost had he held on to the company in the midst of the steep drop in oil prices beginning in the summer of 2008.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In October 2008, Buffett invested $230 million for 10% of battery maker BYD Company (), which runs a subsidiary of electric automobile manufacturer BYD Auto. In less than one year, the investment reaped over 500% return.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In May 2018, BYD's shares had a substantial fall with a total net investment loss of $9 billion. This was Buffett's worst investment in China.


title: Warren Buffett

text: During the RJR Nabisco, Inc. hostile takeover fight in 1987, Buffett was quoted as telling John Gutfreund:


title: Warren Buffett

text: In 2007, Buffett's PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of his MidAmerican Energy Company, canceled six proposed coal-fired power plants. These included Utah's Intermountain Power Project Unit 3, Jim Bridger Unit 5, and four proposed plants previously included in PacifiCorp's Integrated Resource Plan. The cancellations came in the wake of pressure from regulators and citizen groups.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Native American tribes and salmon fishermen sought to win support from Buffett for a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River owned by PacifiCorp which is a Berkshire Hathaway company. David Sokol responded on Buffett's behalf, stating that the FERC would decide the question.


title: Warren Buffett

text: He has been a strong proponent of stock option expensing on corporate income statements. At the 2004 annual meeting, he lambasted a bill before the United States Congress that would consider only some company-issued stock options compensation as an expense, likening the bill to one that was almost passed by the Indiana House of Representatives to change the value of Pi from 3.14159 to 3.2 through legislative fiat.


title: Warren Buffett

text: When a company gives something of value to its employees in return for their services, it is clearly a compensation expense. And if expenses don't belong in the earnings statement, where in the world do they belong?


title: Warren Buffett

text: In May 2012, Buffett said he had avoided buying stock in new social media companies such as Facebook and Google because it is hard to estimate future value. He also stated that initial public offering (IPO) of stock are almost always bad investments. Investors should be looking to companies that will have good value in ten years.


title: Warren Buffett

text: In an interview with CNBC in January 2018, Buffett said that the recent craze over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies won't end well, adding that "when it happens or how or anything else, I don't know." But he said he would not take a short position on bitcoin futures.


title: Warren Buffett

text: Aside from countless television appearances on various news programs, Buffett has appeared in numerous films and TV programs, both documentary, and fiction. Some film and television cameos he has made include "" (2010), "The Office" (U.S.), "All My Children," and "Entourage" (2015). He has been a guest 10 times on "Charlie Rose", and was the subject of the HBO documentary feature "Becoming Warren Buffett" (2017) and the BBC production "The World's Greatest Money Maker" (2009).


title: Warren Buffett

text: In October 2008, "USA Today" reported at least 47 books were in print with Buffett's name in the title. The article quoted the CEO of Borders Books, George Jones, as saying that the only other living persons named in as many book titles were U.S. presidents, world political figures and the Dalai Lama. Buffett said that his own personal favorite is a collection of his essays called "The Essays of Warren Buffett", which he described as "a coherent rearrangement of ideas from my annual report letters".


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: The 2022 United States Senate elections were held on November 8, 2022, concurrently with the 2022 midterm elections at the federal, state, and local level, including elections U.S. House of Representatives. Regularly scheduled elections were held for 34 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate, the winners of which will serve six-year terms in the U.S. Congress from January 3, 2023, to January 3, 2029, and one special election was held to complete an unexpired term ending January 3, 2027. While pundits considered the Republican Party a slight favorite to gain control of the Senate, the Democratic Party outperformed expectations and expanded the majority it had held since 2021.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Senators are divided into three classes whose terms are staggered so that a different class is elected every two years. All 34 Class 3 Senate seats, last elected in 2016, were up for election in 2022; prior to the elections, Class 3 consisted of 14 Democrats and 20 Republicans. Two special elections were also concurrently held—in California, to fill the final weeks of Kamala Harris' term, and in Oklahoma, to serve the four remaining years of resigning senator Jim Inhofe's term. Five Republican senators, Richard Shelby (Alabama), Roy Blunt (Missouri), Richard Burr (North Carolina), Rob Portman (Ohio), and Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania), as well as one Democratic senator, Patrick Leahy (Vermont), did not seek re-election; 15 Republicans and 13 Democrats ran for re-election. The winners of these elections will serve beginning in the 118th U.S. Congress. Prior to the elections, Democrats had held a majority in the Senate since January 20, 2021. There were 48 Democratic senators and two independent senators who caucused with them; Harris' tie-breaking vote as vice president gave Democrats control of the chamber.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Democrats gained one seat, in Pennsylvania, where Democrat John Fetterman won the election to succeed retiring Republican Pat Toomey. All incumbents won re-election and all other open seats besides Pennsylvania were held by the same party as the retiring senator. In Georgia, the election advanced to a runoff in which incumbent Raphael Warnock ultimately prevailed. Incumbents Ron Johnson in Wisconsin and Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada faced particularly close races but were narrowly re-elected. This is the first election cycle since 1914, following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment which mandated the popular election of U.S. senators, in which no incumbents were defeated in a primary or general election. While Republicans were slightly favored in several competitive races that would determine control of the Senate, a red wave election did not materialize. This has been attributed to several factors, including the issue of abortion after "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization", the role of Donald Trump, and extremism or election denialism among Republicans.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: This was the first time in U.S. history in which multiple Senate races in the same year were contested between two African-American nominees (Georgia and South Carolina); three previous elections had taken place in which both major-party nominees were Black. This was also the first midterm cycle since 1934 in which the president's party made net gains in both Senate seats and governorships and the first midterm since 1962 that Democrats made net gains in the Senate while also holding the presidency.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: All 34 Class 3 Senators were up for election in 2022; prior to Election Day, Class 3 consisted of 14 Democrats and 20 Republicans, including a seat in California held by an interim appointee up for a special election. Additionally, a special election was held for a Class 2 seat in Oklahoma. Of the senators not up for election, 34 were Democrats, 29 were Republicans, and two were independents who caucused with the Senate Democrats.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Elections analysts have noted that, in recent cycles, partisanship in Senate elections has much more closely matched partisanship in presidential elections, and the number of senators representing states won recently by presidential candidates of the opposite party has dwindled. In 2018, Democrats were defending 10 seats in states that Donald Trump won in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, while Republicans held only one seat in a state that Hillary Clinton won in 2016 (Nevada, which Democrats flipped). In contrast, in this cycle Democrats held no seats in states that were won by Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, while Republicans were defending two seats in states Joe Biden won in 2020 (Pennsylvania, which Democrats flipped, and Wisconsin, which Republicans narrowly held).


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Democrats had held a majority in the Senate since January 20, 2021, following the party's twin victories in the run-offs for Georgia's regular and special 2020–2021 Senate elections, and the inauguration of Harris as vice president. While many pundits believed Republicans had a strong chance to flip control of the chamber, a red wave election did not materialize. Instead, Democrats performed better than expected in many states. In Colorado, where some Republican strategists hoped for a competitive race, Michael Bennet won re-election handily, and in New Hampshire, another hopeful Republican target, Maggie Hassan ran ahead of Biden's 2020 margin in the state. Democrats also beat expectations in Rust Belt states: although Tim Ryan lost in Ohio, his performance in the race had a coattail effect that boosted Democrats in competitive House districts in the state, and in Pennsylvania, where John Fetterman handily defeated Trump-endorsee Mehmet Oz, vulnerable House Democrats also benefitted from strong Democratic performance at the top of the ticket. In Georgia, Raphael Warnock improved upon his margin from 2020–2021.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Some Republicans blamed Trump for the party's underwhelming showing, citing the underperformance of candidates he endorsed such as Herschel Walker in Georgia and Oz in Pennsylvania. Democrats' strong performance has been attributed to, among other factors, backlash to abortion rights restrictions following the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2022 decision in "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization" that overturned "Roe v. Wade", negative reaction to Republican extremism and election denialism, better candidate quality among Democrats than Republicans, and youth turnout and vote splitting in key races. It was a historically good cycle for incumbents, as it was the first time since the 1914 elections that no incumbent senator lost in a general election. Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire), Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), Mark Kelly (Arizona), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Warnock (Georgia) faced competitive races but were all re-elected.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Each block represents one of the one hundred seats in the U.S. Senate. "D" is a Democratic senator, "I" is an Independent senator, and "R" is a Republican senator. They are arranged so the parties are separated and a majority is clear by crossing the middle.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive seats. These predictions look at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election) and the other candidates and the state's partisan lean (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assign ratings to each seat, indicating the predicted advantage that a party had in winning that seat. Most election predictors use:


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Six-term Republican Richard Shelby was re-elected in 2016 with 64% of the vote. On February 8, 2021, Shelby announced that he would not seek re-election to a seventh term. Katie Britt, Shelby's former chief of staff, and Mo Brooks, a six-term U.S. representative, finished ahead of businesswoman Karla DuPriest, former Army pilot and author Michael Durant, and author Jake Schafer in the first round of the Republican primary election, with Britt going on to defeat Brooks in a runoff. Perennial candidate Will Boyd defeated former Brighton mayor Brandaun Dean and Lanny Jackson in the Democratic primary. Britt won the Senate election, becoming the first woman elected to the United States Senate from Alabama.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Three-term Republican Lisa Murkowski was re-elected in 2016 with 44.4% of the vote. Alaska voters passed a ballot initiative in 2020 that adopted a new top-four ranked-choice voting system: all candidates compete in a nonpartisan blanket primary, the top four candidates advance to the general election, and the winner is determined by instant-runoff voting using ranked-choice ballots. On March 30, following the Alaska Republican Party's decision to censure senator Murkowski, former Alaska Department of Administration commissioner Kelly Tshibaka announced her campaign against Murkowski, later receiving Donald Trump's endorsement. Republican governor Mike Dunleavy, who was considered another potential challenger to Murkowski, instead ran for re-election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Murkowski, Tshibaka, Republican Buzz Kelley, and Democrat Pat Chesbro advanced to the general election. Kelley suspended his campaign in September and endorsed Tshibaka, although his name remained on the ballot.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Murkowski received a plurality of the first-choice votes and a majority of all votes following the ranked choice tabulation, winning re-election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly took office on December 2, 2020, after winning a special election with 51.2% of the vote.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Six-term senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain was re-elected to this seat in 2016. He died on August 25, 2018, and former U.S. senator Jon Kyl was appointed to replace him. Kyl resigned at the end of 2018 and U.S. representative Martha McSally was appointed to replace him. Kelly defeated McSally in the 2020 special election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: In the Republican primary, Blake Masters, the chairman of the Thiel Foundation, defeated Jim Lamon, chair of the solar power company Depcom, and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican John Boozman was re-elected in 2016 with 59.8% of the vote. Boozman ran for a third term.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Boozman defeated former NFL player and U.S. Army veteran Jake Bequette, gun range owner and 2018 gubernatorial candidate Jan Morgan, and pastor Heath Loftis in the Republican primary. A fourth challenger, corporate analyst Michael Deel withdrew prior to the primary election citing a lack of viability.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Natalie James, a real estate broker from Little Rock, defeated Dan Whitfield, who attempted to run as an independent for Arkansas' other U.S. Senate seat in 2020 but failed to meet the ballot access requirements, and former Pine Bluff City alderman Jack Foster in the Democratic primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Incumbent Democrat Alex Padilla took office on January 20, 2021. He was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom following the resignation of incumbent Democrat Kamala Harris on January 18, 2021, in advance of her swearing-in as Vice President of the United States.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Due to a rule change, there were two ballot items for the same seat: a general election, to elect a Class 3 Senator to a full term beginning with the 118th United States Congress, sworn in on January 3, 2023, and a special election, to fill that seat for the final weeks of the 117th Congress. Padilla ran in both races, as did the Republican nominee, attorney Mark Meuser. Padilla defeated Meuser in both races, winning election to his first full term.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Democrat Michael Bennet took office on January 21, 2009, after being appointed by then Colorado governor Bill Ritter to replace outgoing Democrat Ken Salazar, who was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as United States secretary of the interior. He has narrowly won reelection bids, in 2010 to his first full term, with 48.08% of the vote, and, in 2016 to his second, with 49.97% of the vote.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: In the Republican primary, construction company owner Joe O'Dea defeated state representative Ron Hanks.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Former state House minority leader Themis Klarides ran for the Republican nomination, but lost to commodities trader Leora Levy.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican Marco Rubio was re-elected in 2016 with 52% of the vote. He announced on November 9, 2020, via Facebook, that he is running for re-election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Ivanka Trump, daughter and former senior advisor to former president Donald Trump, was seen as a potential candidate to challenge Rubio for the Republican nomination. However, on February 18, 2021, it was confirmed that she would not seek the nomination.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock won the 2020–2021 special election against incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler to fill the remainder of former senator Johnny Isakson's term. Isakson resigned at the end of 2019 due to health problems, and Loeffler was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp following Isakson's resignation. No candidate in the open election on November 3 received the 50% required by Georgia law to avoid a run-off, a type of election colloquially known as a "jungle primary"—Warnock received just 32.9% of the vote—and so, a run-off election between Warnock and Loeffler was held on January 5, 2021, which Warnock won with 51% of the vote.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Former Republican senator David Perdue, who narrowly lost his race to Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff in 2021, and former U.S. representative Doug Collins both considered challenging Warnock, but eventually announced they were not running.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Former NFL player Herschel Walker, who has been endorsed by former president Donald Trump, defeated banking executive Latham Saddler and others in the Republican primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: In the general election, no candidate received a majority of the vote. Warnock defeated Walker in a runoff between the top-two finishers on December 6.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: One-term Democrat Brian Schatz was appointed to the Senate in 2012, following the death of incumbent Daniel Inouye. He won a special election to finish Inouye's term in 2014, and won his first full term in 2016 with 73.6% of the vote. Republican state representative Bob McDermott challenged Schatz.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Four-term Republican Mike Crapo was re-elected in 2016 with 66.1% of the vote. He is running for re-election to a fifth term. Democrat David Roth faced Crapo in the general election after defeating Ben Pursley in the primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: One-term Democrat Tammy Duckworth was elected in 2016 with 54.9% of the vote. She defeated Republican attorney Kathy Salvi in the general election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: One-term Republican Todd Young was elected in 2016 with 52.1% of the vote. He announced on March 2, 2021, that he is running for re-election. Democratic Hammond mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. has announced that he is running. James Sceniak, a behavior therapist, is the Libertarian candidate running.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Seven-term Republican Chuck Grassley was re-elected in 2016 with 60.1% of the vote. He is seeking re-election to an eighth term.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Retired admiral and former aide to U.S. senator Ted Kennedy, Michael Franken, is the Democratic nominee. Franken defeated former U.S. representative Abby Finkenauer in the primary in what was seen as a major upset.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican Jerry Moran was re-elected in 2016 with 62.2% of the vote. He has announced that he will be seeking re-election. Democratic United Methodist pastor and former Kansas City Mayor Mark Holland is challenging Moran.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican Rand Paul was re-elected in 2016 with 57.3% of the vote. He is running for re-election to a third term.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Former Democratic state Representative and 2020 runner-up in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary Charles Booker won the Democratic primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: One-term Republican John Kennedy was elected in 2016 with 60.6% of the vote and has announced his intention to run for a second term. Civil rights activist Gary Chambers and U.S. Navy veteran Luke Mixon are running as Democrats.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: One-term Democrat Chris Van Hollen was elected in 2016 with 60.9% of the vote, and is running for a second term.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Despite previously indicating that he had no interest in pursuing the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, incumbent Governor Larry Hogan, who is term-limited and will leave office in 2023, told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt in October 2021 that he was considering challenging Van Hollen. Hogan ultimately decided not to challenge Van Hollen on February 8, 2022.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican Roy Blunt was re-elected in 2016 with 49.2% of the vote. He is not seeking re-election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: State attorney general Eric S. Schmitt defeated former governor Eric Greitens, and U.S. representatives Vicky Hartzler and Billy Long in the Republican primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Anheuser-Busch heiress Trudy Busch Valentine defeated Marine veteran Lucas Kunce in the Democratic primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: One-term Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto was elected in 2016 with 47.1% of the vote. She is seeking re-election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Former state attorney general Adam Laxalt is running against Cortez Masto for the seat once held by his maternal grandfather Paul Laxalt.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: One-term Democrat Maggie Hassan was elected in 2016 with 48% of the vote. She is running for re-election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu, who was re-elected in 2020 with 65.2% of the vote, will not be running.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: U.S. Army brigadier general Don Bolduc narrowly defeated state senator Chuck Morse, former Londonderry town manager Kevin Smith, and others in the Republican primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Four-term Democrat and U.S. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer was re-elected in 2016 with 70.6% of the vote. He is seeking re-election. Schumer was the only candidate to qualify for the primary ballot.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Three-term Republican Richard Burr was re-elected in 2016 with 51.0% of the vote. Burr has pledged to retire in 2023.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Veteran and senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, Mathew Hoh is running for senate with the Green Party.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of former president Donald Trump, and Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson briefly considered running for U.S. Senate, but both decided not to run.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: U.S. representative Ted Budd, who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump, easily defeated former governor Pat McCrory in the Republican primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Former chief justice of the state Supreme Court Cheri Beasley easily defeated Beaufort mayor Rett Newton in the Democratic primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican John Hoeven was re-elected in 2016 with 78.5% of the vote. On February 4, 2021, Hoeven campaign spokesman Dan Larson indicated that Hoeven was running for re-election in 2022. University of Jamestown engineering professor Katrina Christiansen defeated businessman Michael Steele in the Democratic primary election. Former state representative Rick Becker challenged Hoeven in the Republican primary but withdrew after losing the convention.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican Rob Portman was re-elected in 2016 with 58% of the vote. On January 25, 2021, he announced that he would not be running for re-election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Venture capitalist and author J. D. Vance was nominated in a crowded and competitive Republican primary, defeating USMCR veteran and former state treasurer Josh Mandel, state senator Matt Dolan, investment banker Mike Gibbons, and former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken, among others. Vance was endorsed by former president Donald Trump late in the primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: One-term Republican James Lankford won the 2014 special election to serve the remainder of former U.S. senator Tom Coburn's term. Lankford won election to his first full term in 2016 with 67.7% of the vote. He announced that he would be running for re-election on April 6, 2021. Two Democratic candidates were competing in the runoff Democratic primary election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Jackson Lahmeyer, the pastor for Sheridan Church and former Oklahoma State coordinator for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, challenged Lankford in the Republican primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Five-term incumbent Republican Jim Inhofe had been re-elected with 63% of the vote in 2020 and was not scheduled to be up for election again until 2026. However, Inhofe announced his intention to resign at the end of the 117th U.S. Congress. A special election to fill his seat will take place in November 2022, concurrent with the other Senate elections. U.S. representative Markwayne Mullin defeated state House speaker T. W. Shannon in the runoff Republican primary election. Mullin and Shannon defeated Inhofe's chief of staff Luke Holland and others in the initial Republican primary election. Additionally, former U.S. representative Kendra Horn is the Democratic nominee, being her party's only candidate.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Markwayne Mullin, a member of the Cherokee Nation, became the first Native American to serve in the U.S. Senate since fellow Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell retired from Congress in 2005.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Four-term Democrat Ron Wyden was re-elected in 2016 with 56.6% of the vote. He is seeking re-election.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Republican former financial advisor Jo Rae Perkins, a perennial candidate and the 2020 nominee for U.S. Senate, won the Republican primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican Pat Toomey was re-elected in 2016 with 48.8% of the vote. On October 5, 2020, Toomey announced that he will retire at the end of his term.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman easily defeated state representative Malcolm Kenyatta and U.S. representative Conor Lamb in the Democratic primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Mehmet Oz, host of "The Dr. Oz Show" and cardiothoracic surgeon, narrowly defeated business executive David McCormick, 2018 U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Bartos, 2018 candidate for Sean Gale, political commentator Kathy Barnette, former U.S. ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands, after a bitter Republican primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: One-term Republican Tim Scott was appointed in 2013 and won election to his first full term in 2016 with 60.6% of the vote. He said that while he is running for re-election in 2022, it would be his last time. In the Democratic primary, state representative Krystle Matthews defeated author and activist Catherine Fleming Bruce in a runoff. Angela Geter, chairwoman of the Spartanburg County Democratic Party, also ran in the primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Three-term Republican and U.S. Senate minority whip John Thune was re-elected in 2016 with 71.8% of the vote and is running for reelection to a fourth term. Thune has been subject to some backlash from former President Trump and his supporters in the state of South Dakota, leading to speculation of a potential primary challenge. He defeated Bruce Whalen, an Oglala Sioux tribal administrator and former chair of the Oglala Lakota County Republican Party in the Republican primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: The Democratic candidate is author, navy veteran, and assistant professor of criminal justice at Northern State University, Brian Bengs, who won the Democratic primary unopposed.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican Mike Lee was re-elected in 2016 with 68.2% of the vote. He defeated former state representative Becky Edwards as well as businessman and political advisor Ally Isom in the Republican primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: The Utah Democratic Party has declined to field their own candidate against Lee and has instead endorsed independent Evan McMullin, a political activist, former Republican, former CIA operations officer, and 2016 presidential candidate.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: The most senior senator, an eight-term Democrat and president pro tempore Patrick Leahy, was re-elected in 2016 with 61.3% of the vote. On November 15, 2021, Leahy announced that he is not seeking re-election to a ninth term.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Former military officer Gerald Malloy is the Republican nominee, having narrowly defeated former United States attorney for the District of Vermont Christina Nolan in the primary.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: In 2022, the Washington state blanket primary had 18 candidates on the ballot for the U.S. Senate seat. Democrat Patty Murray ran re-election to a sixth term She won her place on the general election ballot with 52.2% of the vote


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Republican nurse Tiffany Smiley ran for the Senate seat, and advanced to the general election after coming in second in the blanket primary with 33.7% of the vote.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Murray defeated Smiley and won re-election to a sixth term in the November 8, 2022 election, receiving 57% of the vote. Smiley conceded the following day.


title: 2022 United States Senate elections

text: Two-term Republican Ron Johnson was re-elected in 2016 with 50.2% of the vote. He had pledged to serve only two terms, but announced in January 2022 that he would run for reelection to a third term.


title: Maldives

text: Maldives (, ; , ), officially the Republic of Maldives (, ), is an archipelagic state located in South Asia, situated in the Indian Ocean. It lies southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the Asian continent's mainland. The chain of 26 atolls stretches across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south.


title: Maldives

text: Comprising a territory spanning roughly including the sea, land area of all the islands comprises , Maldives is one of the world's most geographically dispersed sovereign states and the smallest Asian country as well as one of the smallest Muslim-majority countries by land area and, with around 557,751 inhabitants, the 2nd least populous country in Asia. Malé is the capital and the most populated city, traditionally called the "King's Island" where the ancient royal dynasties ruled for its central location.


title: Maldives

text: The Maldivian Archipelago is located on the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge, a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean; this also forms a terrestrial ecoregion, together with the Chagos Archipelago and Lakshadweep. With an average ground-level elevation of above sea level, and a highest natural point of only 2.4 meters, it is the world's lowest-lying country. (Note that some sources state the highest point, Mount Villingili, as 5.1 meters)


title: Maldives

text: In the 12th century Islam reached the Maldivian Archipelago, which was consolidated as a sultanate, developing strong commercial and cultural ties with Asia and Africa. From the mid-16th century, the region came under the increasing influence of European colonial powers, with Maldives becoming a British protectorate in 1887. Independence from the United Kingdom came in 1965, and a presidential republic was established in 1968 with an elected People's Majlis. The ensuing decades have seen political instability, efforts at democratic reform, and environmental challenges posed by climate change and rising sea levels.


title: Maldives

text: Maldives became a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It is also a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Non-Aligned Movement. The World Bank classifies the Maldives as having an upper-middle income economy. Fishing has historically been the dominant economic activity, and remains the largest sector by far, followed by the rapidly growing tourism industry. The Maldives rates "high" on the Human Development Index, with "per capita" income significantly higher than other SAARC nations.


title: Maldives

text: Maldives was a member of the Commonwealth of Nations from July 1982 until withdrawing from the organisation in October 2016 in protest of allegations by other nations of its human rights abuses and failing democracy. Maldives rejoined the Commonwealth on 1 February 2020 after showing evidence of functioning democratic processes and popular support.


title: Maldives

text: According to legends, the first settlers of Maldives were people known as Dheyvis. The first Kingdom of the Maldives was known as Dheeva Maari. During the 3rd century BCE visit of emissaries, it was noted that the Maldives was known as Dheeva Mahal.


title: Maldives

text: During c. 1100 – 1166, Maldives was also referred to as Diva Kudha and the Laccadive archipelago which was a part of Maldives was then referred to as Diva Kanbar by the scholar and polymath al-Biruni (973–1048).


title: Maldives

text: The name "Maldives" may also derive from Sanskrit ' (garland) and ' (island), or "Maala Divaina" ("Necklace Islands") in Sinhala. The Maldivian people are called "Dhivehin". The word "Dheeb/Deeb" (archaic "Dhivehi", related to Sanskrit , ') means "island", and "Dhives" ("Dhivehin") means "islanders" (i.e., Maldivians). In Tamil, "Garland of Islands" can be translated as ' ().


title: Maldives

text: The ancient Sri Lankan chronicle "Mahawamsa" refers to an island called "Mahiladiva" ("Island of Women", महिलादिभ) in Pali, which is probably a mistranslation of the same Sanskrit word meaning "garland".


title: Maldives

text: Jan Hogendorn, Grossman Professor of Economics at Colby College, theorized that the name Maldives derives from the Sanskrit ' (), meaning "garland of islands". In Malayalam, "Garland of Islands" can be translated as ' (). In Kannada, "Garland of Islands" can be translated as ' (). None of these names are mentioned in any literature, but classical Sanskrit texts dating back to the Vedic period mention the "Hundred Thousand Islands" ('), a generic name which would include not only the Maldives, but also the Laccadives, Aminidivi Islands, Minicoy, and the Chagos island groups.


title: Maldives

text: Medieval Arab travellers such as Ibn Battuta called the islands ' () from the Arabic word ' ("palace"), which must be how the Berber traveller interpreted the local name, having been through Muslim North India, where Perso-Arabic words were introduced to the local vocabulary. This is the name currently inscribed on the scroll in the Maldives state emblem. The classical Persian/Arabic name for Maldives is '. The Dutch referred to the islands as the ' (), while the British anglicised the local name for the islands first to the "Maldive Islands" and later to "Maldives".


title: Maldives

text: In a conversational book published in 1563, Garcia da Orta writes: "I must tell you that I have heard it said that the natives do not call it Maldiva but Nalediva. In the Malabar language, "nale" means four and "diva" island. So that in that language, the word signifies 'four islands', while we, corrupting the name, call it Maldiva."


title: Maldives

text: In the 6th - 5th century BCE, the Maldives already had their kingdoms. The country has an established history of over 2,500 years according to historical evidence and legends. Early settlers in the Maldives were probably Gujaratis who reached and settled Sri Lanka about 500 BCE. Evidence of cultural influence from North India can be deduced from the methods of boatbuilding and silver punch-marked coins


title: Maldives

text: The "Mahāvaṃsa" (300 BCE) has records of people from Sri Lanka emigrating to the Maldives. Assuming that cowrie shells come from the Maldives, historians believe that there may have been people living in the Maldives during the Indus Valley civilisation (3300-1300 BCE). A number of artefacts show the presence of Hinduism in the country before the Islamic period.


title: Maldives

text: According to the book () ("On the Ancient Ruins of Meedhoo"), written in the 17th century in Arabic by Allama Ahmed Shihabuddine (Allama Shihab al-Din) of Meedhoo in Addu Atoll, the first settlers of the Maldives were people known as Dheyvis. They came from the Kalibanga in India. The time of their arrival is unknown but it was before Emperor Asoka's kingdom in 269–232 BCE. Shihabuddin's story tallies remarkably well with the recorded history of South Asia and that of the copperplate document of the Maldives known as Loamaafaanu.


title: Maldives

text: The "Maapanansa", the copper plates on which recorded the history of the first Kings of Maldives from the Solar Dynasty, were lost quite early on.


title: Maldives

text: A 4th-century notice written by Ammianus Marcellinus (362 CE) speaks of gifts sent to the Roman emperor Julian by a deputation from the nation of Divi. The name Divi is very similar to Dheyvi who were the first settlers of Maldives.


title: Maldives

text: The ancient history of Maldives is told in copperplates, ancient scripts carved on coral artefacts, traditions, language and different ethnicities of Maldivians.


title: Maldives

text: The first Maldivians did not leave any archaeological artefacts. Their buildings were probably built of wood, palm fronds, and other perishable materials, which would have quickly decayed in the salt and wind of the tropical climate. Moreover, chiefs or headmen did not reside in elaborate stone palaces, nor did their religion require the construction of large temples or compounds.


title: Maldives

text: Comparative studies of Maldivian oral, linguistic, and cultural traditions confirm that the first settlers were people from the southern shores of the neighbouring Indian subcontinent, including the Giraavaru people, mentioned in ancient legends and local folklore about the establishment of the capital and kingly rule in Malé.