Uzbekistani talent show and Sinatra top Buffett's evening watches on YouTube

Legendary investor Warren Buffett, who recently stepped down as chair of Berkshire Hathaway’s board, spends his evenings watching videos on YouTube, the Wall Street Journal reports. The billionaire’s friends told the newspaper about his viewing habits, while Buffett declined to comment.

Buffett is said to watch videos nearly every evening, usually from a recliner in his Omaha home. The 96-year-old investor prefers a large television. That puts him in line with most Americans: last year, YouTube became the most-watched video provider on televisions in the U.S., with people now watching it more on TV sets than on mobile devices.

Buffett almost never watches investment or finance content on YouTube, according to his friends. More often, he chooses videos related to his lifelong passions, including railroads, the state of Nebraska, show tunes, and the big-band era, as well as early Frank Sinatra performances from the 1930s. Buffett also enjoys speeches by complete unknowns and content from Berkshire Hathaway itself.

“Warren’s range is broad,” Sharon Osberg, a close friend, told the WSJ. In August, she and Buffett spent hours watching YouTube at his home. Their selections included a documentary about lawyer Roy Cohn, who has been described as Trump’s mentor, and Uzbekistan’s version of “America’s Got Talent.” Lately, Buffett has also been using YouTube to revisit speeches by his longtime business partner Charlie Munger, who died in 2023, the WSJ notes.

Buffett usually spends his mornings poring over company reports and watching business channel CNBC, but devotes almost every evening to YouTube. Sometimes, he comes into the office the next day and excitedly recounts what he saw, the Journal says. His friends joke that he knows YouTube so well he could advise its management.

Beyond YouTube, Buffett enjoys rewatching old movies. He is a fan of the Turner Classic Movies channel, which sometimes airs one of his longtime favorites, “12 Angry Men,” starring Henry Fonda, another Omaha native. Another Buffett favorite is “Lost in Translation,” starring Bill Murray, a longtime Berkshire investor.

Buffett was slow to embrace new technology for much of his life, the WSJ notes. It took him years to get an iPhone, and he still has others send and receive his emails. As an investor, Buffett has traditionally favored value stocks over fast-growing tech names.

Apple was the exception: Buffett called it “better than any business we own outright.” However, he regards the iPhone maker as a consumer company, not a tech outfit. As of the second quarter of this year, Apple was Berkshire’s largest investment.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, is also among Berkshire’s three largest holdings. Berkshire Hathaway first invested in the company in 2025. Buffett said the decision was his own. Still, he acknowledged that Alphabet is not among his favorite holdings.