When Warren Buffett's daughter-in-law showed him her company's finances as a Christmas gift

Legendary investor Buffett and his former daughter-in-law Mary Buffett. (Image credit: matybuffett.com)

What can you gift a billionaire who is likely to have everything he wants? This was a question that legendary American investor Warren Buffett's daughter-in-law thought when she was wondering what to give him for Christmas. In the end, she ended up showing him her company's finances as a gift.

Speaking to Think Advisor in 2019, Mary Buffett, who was married to Warren Buffett's son Peter from 1980 to 1993, said, "The first year we were married, I realised, 'Warren is very rich, therefore, he doesn't want anything.'"

"I didn't know what to get him, so I put together our music company's balance sheet to show him that we were making money," she told the publication.

Mary and Peter Buffett owned a music business together. She played to her strengths as a former Columbia Records executive and as a manager of the music-publishing companies of Playboy's late founder, Hugh Hefner.

But, unlike most people who offer Warren Buffett a look into their assets and liabilities, Mary Buffett was not looking for an investment.

"I just wanted to show him, 'Look, we're doing good,'" she told ThinkAdvisor.

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Mary Buffett also described what Christmas with the Buffetts was like: lots of food, popular faces, and discussions on intrinsic value.

"When the family got together in Laguna over Christmastime, all the titans of industry would be there," she said. "We'd have lunches and dinners, and they'd all talk about companies. Investing was the only thing Warren ever talked about!"

After her divorce from Peter Buffett, Mary Buffett has authored several books on Warren Buffett, seven of them being best-sellers, her website stated.

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