In the five years that he has been “active” on Twitter, Warren Buffett has tweeted nine times. The billionaire Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO has 1.43 million followers, and he follows no one.
Warren is in the house.
— Warren Buffett (@WarrenBuffett) May 2, 2013
A fake Warren Buffett Twitter account — which has since been suspended — attracted some viral attention this week by dispensing words of wisdom that really had nothing to do with investing and more to do with just being a nice person.
The account quickly attracted a few hundred thousand followers thanks to tweets such as:
“Being quiet and calm doesn’t mean you’re weak. Such people show strength that’s under control. The most intelligent people know when to speak, know when to listen, and know when to be quiet.”
“Life is too short to waste in the company of those who can’t wait to put you down. Let them say what they want. Their opinions aren’t your problem. Keep doing good as you’ve always done. No matter what they do or say, don’t doubt who you are and what you’re doing.”
Rather than offer his opinion about all of this in 280 characters, Buffett appeared on CNBC on Thursday, where he told Becky Quick that he doesn’t follow Twitter very closely and explained why he doesn’t tweet more often.
“I just don’t see a reason to,” Buffett said. “I put out an annual report, and I do not have a daily view on all kinds of things. And maybe I’ve got a guy in this copycat or imitator, maybe he’s putting out better stuff than I would. So if he puts out good advice, I’ll take credit for it.”
In 2018, Tweeting executives — whether they’re leading the country or an electric vehicle company — can draw a lot of attention, and catch a lot of heat for what they tweet.
CNBC asked Buffett what he thought of Tesla’s tweeting CEO, Elon Musk, who recently had to roll back his talk of taking the company private.
“I don’t think it’s helped him a lot,” Buffett said. “It’d be particularly dangerous to start commenting on Berkshire daily, which I never would do.
“I think there’s other things in life I want to do than tweet,” he added. “I mean, I’m not that desperate for somebody to hear my opinion on this.”
Watch CNBC’s full interview with Buffett below:
