America’s most famous investor had amassed 60,000 followers less than an hour after opening his account on Thursday afternoon. He passed 100,000 followers within two hours.
The 82-year-old’s decision to join the micro-blogging site is something of a surprise, though, given he does not have a computer at home and reportedly rarely switches on a mobile phone.
The world’s fourth-richest man has also steered away from investing in technology companies, arguing that he will not put his money into something he does not fully understand.
However, that aversion has weakened over the past 12 months, and last year Mr Buffett became one of the biggest investors in IBM.
Although it remains to be seen how often Buffett will tweet, his pithy wisecracks and homespun investment advice could prove well suited to the platforms 140 character messages.
Fellow billionaire Bill Gates was one of the first to welcome Buffett to Twitter, tweeting: “Welcome to Twitter @WarrenBuffett. First ever Twitter bridge tourney starts now. I bid 3 Hearts.”
Buffett is now the second wealthiest person on Twitter, behind Mr Gates and his decision to join comes a month after the Securities and Exchange Commission said that companies could begin to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media to release their results.
Berkshire Hathaway, Mr Buffett’s company, holds its annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday. The meeting draws investors from around the world eager to come away with investment advice and insight.
