How 17-Year-Old Warren Buffett Created A "Pinball Empire" From $25?

Berkshire Hathway CEO Warren Buffett, the third richest person in the world, opened about his fondness of pinball and how he started his first business out of selling Pinball machines in the early’s 1946.

In a nostalgic video with his billionaire bud Bill Gates, Buffett was wandering in a candy shop in Omaha and going nostalgic all over the place. The Oracle of Omaha looking over to the pinball says “Oh these, I claim to be pretty good at pinball. I bought a machine for $25 dollars in 1946 and built a small empire out of it.”

Before Warren Buffett was known to be the greatest investor of all time, as a teenager, he was enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures. From washing cars to selling magazines, he used to hop from one venture to another. He always had an interest in the workings of share market and investors, and at the age of 11, he purchased his first stock.

In the autobiography of Warren Buffett, Alice Schroeder reveals more about him and his friend Don Danley’s peculiar venture of selling pinball machines.

“I bought this old pinball machine for 25 bucks, and we can have a partnership. Your part of the deal is to fix it up. And lookit, we’ll tell Frank Erico, the barber, ‘We represent Wilson’s Coin-Operated Machine Company, and we have a proposition from Mr. Wilson. It’s at no risk to you. Let’s put this nickel machine in the back, Mr. Erico, and your customers can play while they wait. And we’ll split the money.” Source – Business Insider

The pinball business instantly becomes a sensation in the town, and the duo spent the earned money on buying more new machines. In a few months, Buffett made his name among the high profiles and later sold his venture for over $1000.

Warren Buffett is an epitome of think rich, grow rich. If he would have sat idle in his adolescence or indulged into playful activities with kids of similar age, we might have never heard of him. He invested in his passion while others of his age were busy building sand castles. As Buffett rightly quotes “Without passion, you don’t have energy. Without energy, you have nothing“.