Here’s what every American would receive if Warren Buffett’s massive fortune were split among the U.S. population
This year, billionaire Warren Buffett announced that he would be stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational conglomerate he built, which has generated a net worth of $145 billion, according to Forbes. Together with Bill and Melinda Gates, Buffett founded The Giving Pledge, an organization that encourages the superrich to give away their fortunes during their lifetime or in their wills.
A thought experiment…
As a thought experiment, I examined how much each person in the U.S. would receive if Buffett opted to distribute his wealth evenly among the entire US population.
This endeavor requires some flexibility, as the primary source of Buffett’s wealth is his holdings in Berkshire Hathaway stock. If he were to liquidate his portfolio to give away his wealth among the 340 million people estimated to live in the United States, the sudden increase in supply would likely cause the stock price to drop (i.e., an increase in supply while demand remains constant means prices will fall).
However, if we assume that each person was given a portion of their stock portfolio—crudely represented here as their net worth of $145.3 billion—each person would receive approximately $425.
What if he took a more targeted approach?
According to the U.S. Federal Reserve, the bottom 50 percent of households in the United States own around 2.5 percent of the country’s total wealth. What if Buffett excluded the top half of households and sent the money to those in the bottom 50 percent?
The US Census Bureau estimated that in 2025, there were around 132 million households in the US. Divided by two, we get 66 million households in the bottom half of the wealth distribution. As of early 2025, the bottom half of households owned around $4 trillion. For context, the top 0.1 percent of households—approximately 132,000 families—owned $22.1 trillion. If we distribute Buffett’s fortune among the 66 million least wealthy households, each would receive, in stock, the equivalent of $2,296.97.
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