When Bill Gates was interviewed by an AI chatbot last month in the UK, he was asked about the best advice he’s ever received and how it has influenced his own life. Responding to it, the 67-year-old billionaire brought up his 93-year-old longtime friend and legendary investor Warren Buffett.
“Warren Buffett talked about (how), in the end, it’s how friends really think of you and how strong those friendships are (that matters),” Gates said.
Interestingly, the Microsoft co-founder had shared similar thoughts in a 2016 blog post. “I’ve learned many things from Warren over the last 25 years, but maybe the most important thing is what friendship is all about,” Bill Gates wrote. “Even though he keeps up a hectic schedule, Warren still finds time to nurture friendships like few other people I know. He picks up the phone and calls to say hello. He regularly sends articles he’s read that he thinks... I will find interesting.”
Gates had also once famously said, "Life is more fun when you have a friend like Warren Buffett."
Gates and Buffett, who have been friends for more than three decades, have shared interests beyond their wealth. Besides co-finding The Giving Pledge, which encourages the world’s wealthiest people to donate at least half of their wealth to charitable causes, they also play bridge together.
Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, too has often spoken about the importance of friendship and the need to surround oneself with better people. As per a CNBC report, during a talk with Gates at Columbia University in 2017, he had urged people to surround themselves “with people that are better than yourself,” so that they can learn from and be inspired by them. “You will move in the direction of the people that you associate with,” Buffett had said.
Read more: Bill Gates: 'Warren Buffett is incredibly wise. Still shares advice with me'
