Warren Buffett

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE: As the crisis in the credit markets caused just about every deal to freeze up, Buffett, 78, went on a buying spree. He helped fund Mars’s $23 billion takeover of Wrigley and Dow Chemical’s $15 billion acquisition of Rohm and Hass. He also closed a $4.5 billion deal for a controlling piece of the Pritzker-family holding firm. But while he sees gems in the U.S., he’s down on the market overall. Investors hope that he has a more optimistic take on his own company, which in the first half of 2008 was down 19.5 percent, its worst performance since 1990.

LATEST BIG DEAL: As a large shareholder in Anheuser-Busch, Berkshire will realize a $770 million gain when Belgian company InBev NV’s planned $52 billion takeover of the American brewer goes through.

SIGNS OF OMNIPOTENCE: This spring, as Bear Stearns was spiraling down the drain, the investment bank desperately reached out to Buffett for backing, knowing that any sign of support from the business guru would mollify the market. He passed.

ON THE RECORD: “You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out—and what we are witnessing at some of our largest financial institutions is an ugly sight.”