The Oracle of Omaha's After-Hours Habit: Warren Buffett's YouTube Rabbit Holes
After mornings with CNBC, the 96-year-old Berkshire chief spends evenings deep in YouTube clips — from 1950s commercials to early Sinatra — according to a Wall Street Journal report highlighted by CNBC.
The most famous value investor alive starts his day with business news — and ends it with show tunes, railroads, and 1950s commercials.
According to a Wall Street Journal report surfaced by CNBC on October 10, Warren Buffett, now 96, spends nearly every evening on what the Journal calls "nightly trips down the YouTube rabbit hole." The ritual: Buffett settles into a recliner in front of an enormous television at his Omaha home and watches clip after clip, and according to the report, he "can't get enough."
Not exactly CNBC after dark
Friends tell the Journal that Buffett's viewing is hardly ever about investing or finance. Instead, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway gravitates toward Glenn Close clips, Paul Anka videos, speeches by complete unknowns, big-band-era performances, railroad footage, Nebraska nostalgia, and Frank Sinatra's early appearances from the 1930s. One day he reportedly came into his office gushing about a moving amateur rendition of "My Way."
Sharon Osberg, the three-time world champion bridge player who has long been close to Buffett, is described as his frequent viewing companion. She told the Journal that "Warren's range is broad," running from "the silliest things" to a "really good documentary on Roy Cohn" — or, apparently, an Uzbek spin on a talent-show format.
The Munger connection
Some of the most poignant viewing, according to the report, involves Charlie Munger, Buffett's late business partner. Buffett has been watching clips of Munger, including a 2017 appearance at the University of Michigan. Osberg said watching him view those clips makes "the bond between the two of them" palpable.
Slow adopter, big trend
Buffett is famously late to new technologies, which makes the habit notable: the Journal frames it as part of a broader shift from streaming toward short video clips that has made YouTube the most-watched video provider on U.S. television sets.
One theory the Journal knocks down: the YouTube habit has nothing to do with Berkshire Hathaway's sizable investment in Alphabet, YouTube's parent company. "He just really likes watching the clips," friends say. The man who scans mornings with CNBC, it turns out, spends his nights doing what millions of other Americans do — falling into the algorithm.
Written by the BidAsk Newsroom. Based on reporting from the sources below.
