Berkshire's Warren Buffett Will Be Third 80-Something S&P 500 CEO

Author's Avatar
Aug 03, 2010
Warren Buffett will become the third octogenarian CEO of a Standard & Poor’s 500 company when his birthday rolls around later this month.

That’s according to research by Spencer Stuart, an executive search consulting firm. Spencer Stuart compiled a list of S&P 500 CEOs and their ages as of June 1. A spokesman for the firm sent me the full list but asked that I only summarize the results rather than publish the entire PDF.

Buffett, CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, will turn 80 on Aug. 30. He’s said to be in good health and hasn’t ever indicated any plans to retire from a job that he loves. Buffett’s partner, Charlie Munger, is 86. They've pointed out that investing success doesn't require any manual labor.

Buffett has often said he hopes to emulate the example of Rose Blumkin, founder of the Nebraska Furniture Mart, a home furnishings company that Berkshire now owns. “Mrs. B” worked at the NFM pretty much right up until her death in 1998 at the age of 104.

The other two 80-something CEOs of S&P 500 companies are Howard Solomon of Forest Laboratories and Eugene Isenberg of Nabors Industries (81 and 80, respectively, when the data were compiled). Nipping on Buffett’s heels age-wise and rounding out the top-five are J.W. Marriott Jr. of Marriott International and Rupert Murdoch of News Corp.

The youngest S&P 500 CEOs are Adam Norwitt of Amphenol Corp. and Dara Khosrowshahi of Expedia, according to the research. Both were 40 at the time of the study.

The average and median S&P 500 CEO age was 56. The mode was 57.