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50 free Warren Buffett trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Warren Buffett trivia quiz covers the Oracle of Omaha from a paper route and pinball machines in wartime Washington, through Ben Graham's classroom at Columbia and a Saturday knock on GEICO's door, to the partnerships that made him a millionaire at 32, the textile mill he calls his worst trade, the Coca-Cola stake, the Salomon rescue, the 2008 crisis deals and the pledge to give away 99 percent of everything. The easy questions are ones most people know: his nickname, his company, his home town. The medium ones ask about his mentors and partners, his famous rules, his frugal habits and the annual meeting known as the Woodstock of Capitalism. The hard ones dig into Sanborn Map, the $7.60 share price, the Buffalo Evening News, the private jet he called The Indefensible, the hedge-fund bet and the ukulele he bought to impress a girl. It suits a business-school warm-up, a finance-team quiz night or anyone who reads the shareholder letters every February. Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01By what nickname is Warren Buffett widely known?
The Oracle of Omaha
He is also called the Sage of Omaha, and still lives in the house he bought there in 1958.
Q 02Which conglomerate did Buffett take control of in 1965 and chair from 1970?
Berkshire Hathaway
It began life as a New England textile manufacturer.
Q 03What was the occupation of Buffett's father, Howard?
US congressman and stockbroker
Howard Buffett was elected to the first of four terms in Congress in 1942, moving the family to Washington.
Q 04What did Buffett's high-school yearbook say about him?
'Likes math; a future stockbroker'
He wanted to skip college and go straight into business, but his father overruled him.
Q 05Which library book, borrowed at age seven, inspired the young Buffett?
One Thousand Ways to Make $1000
He went on to sell gum, soft drinks and magazines door to door.
Q 06What did the teenage Buffett and a friend place in Omaha barber shops to make money?
Pinball machines
They started with one $25 machine and sold the business to a war veteran for $1,200 in 1947.
Q 07How old was Buffett when he bought his first shares, three of Cities Service Preferred?
11
He bought three more for his sister Doris, and had visited the New York Stock Exchange at ten.
Q 08What did Buffett buy at 14 with $1,200 of his savings?
A 40-acre farm
A tenant farmer worked the land; by college graduation he had saved $9,800.
Q 09Which university rejected Buffett's MBA application in 1950, sending him to Columbia instead?
Harvard
He chose Columbia because his hero of value investing taught there.
Q 10Which 'father of value investing' taught Buffett at Columbia and later employed him?
Benjamin Graham
Buffett offered to work for him for free, and was refused; Graham hired him in 1954 at $12,000 a year.
Q 11Which insurer's Washington HQ did the young Buffett talk his way into on a Saturday in 1951?
GEICO
Vice president Lorimer Davidson talked with him for hours and became a lifelong friend.
Q 12What did Buffett sign up for to overcome his fear of public speaking?
A Dale Carnegie course
He then taught an investment night class whose students averaged more than twice his age.
Q 13Where was Buffett introduced to his future partner Charlie Munger in 1959?
A luncheon at The Omaha Club
Munger became Berkshire's vice-chairman in 1978.
Q 21Buffett helped finance which 1985 media takeover in return for a 25 percent stake?
Capital Cities' purchase of ABC
ABC was four times bigger than Capital Cities at the time; his net worth passed $1 billion that year.
Q 22Which Wall Street firm did Buffett step in to chair after a 1991 Treasury bidding scandal?
Salomon
Berkshire had bought a 12 percent stake in 1987; a rogue trader had submitted bids above what Treasury rules allowed.
Q 23Which company did Buffett start buying in 1988, eventually owning about 7 percent for $1.02 billion?
Coca-Cola
Q 14Which map maker, valued by the market at 'minus $20' a share for its map business, gave Buffett a 50% return?
Sanborn Map Company
Its investment portfolio was worth $65 a share while the stock traded at $45.
Q 15In what year did Buffett become a millionaire through his partnerships?
1962
The partnerships held nearly $7.2 million, of which more than $1 million was his.
Q 16What line of business was the company in when Buffett began buying its shares?
Textile manufacturing
He later called the textile business his worst trade; the last mill was sold in 1985.
Q 17At what price per share did Buffett's partnerships begin buying the company?
$7.60
By August 2014 a single share cost $200,000.
Q 18How much was Berkshire's first and only dividend, paid in 1967?
10 cents
Buffett has preferred to reinvest earnings ever since.
Q 19Which newspaper publisher did Berkshire start buying into in 1973, leading to Buffett's friendship with Kay Graham?
The Washington Post Company
He had delivered the paper as a teenager, earning more than $175 a month.
Q 20Which newspaper did Berkshire buy in 1977 for $32.5 million, prompting an antitrust fight with a rival?
Buffalo Evening News
Both Buffalo papers lost money until the Courier-Express folded in 1982.
It became one of Berkshire's most lucrative holdings; he even let his likeness appear on Cherry Coke cans in China.
Q 24What did Buffett name the private jet he bought with Berkshire funds in 1989?
The Indefensible
He later renamed it The Indispensable, then sold it before 1999.
Q 25Buffett says his first principle of investing is not to lose money. How does he phrase the second?
'Never forget rule number 1'
He also said the ideal holding period for a stock is forever.
Q 26Buffett wrote that if you won't own a stock for ten years, you shouldn't own it for how long?
Ten minutes
The line comes from his letter to Berkshire shareholders.
Q 27What did Buffett bet hedge fund managers in 2007 that a simple S&P 500 index fund would do?
Outperform their high-fee funds
By 2017 the index fund was ahead of every hedge fund in the wager.
Q 28What three-word opinion piece headline did Buffett write for The New York Times during the 2008 crisis?
'Buy American. I am.'
He also called the financial sector's downturn 'poetic justice'.
Q 29Whom did Buffett dethrone in 2008 to become the world's richest person on the Forbes list?
Bill Gates
Gates had held the top spot for 13 consecutive years and regained it in 2009.
Q 30Which railroad did Buffett buy for $34 billion in cash and stock in 2009?
Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Biographer Alice Schroeder said the aim was to diversify Berkshire away from finance.