With 2014 officially in the books, the numbers are in, and according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index Warren Buffett watched his net worth rise by an astonishing $13 billion in 2014.
While all of those dollars are technically on-paper gains since Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A 1.18%) (BRK.B 1.30%) -- Buffett's company -- watched its stock price rise by nearly 30%, here are 13 incredible comparisons showing just how much money $13 billion truly is.
Source: The Motley Fool.
1. Bank you very much
Thanks to legal settlement costs, through the first nine months of 2014, Bank of America registered a net income of $1.8 billion. Buffett made that much every 50 days.
2. Fishing for a win
Buffett saw his net worth rise by a little more than $35 million each day in 2014. The Miami Marlins paid their team roughly $45 million for the entire baseball season.
Source: Flickr / Roberto Coquis.
3. Keep on swinging
Speaking of the Marlins, Giancarlo Stanton signed the largest contract in sports history in November, a 13-year $325 million deal.
He would need to sign 40 more of those to equal what Buffett made last year.
4. Icahn have that
Fellow billionaire Carl Icahn is worth $23 billion, but his publically traded company -- Icahn Enterprises -- has a market capitalization of roughly $11 billion, meaning Buffett could have bought it outright using only on the money he made last year.
5. You can't be Serial
A recent CNN article notes that with its 19 million downloads, the hit podcast Serial likely generated roughly $500,000 in revenue according to Podtrac. Buffett made that much every eight hours.
Source: Flickr / musicfanatic29
6. He can be cereal
Roughly $10 billion worth of breakfast cereal was consumed in the United States last year according to Euromonitor, a market intelligence firm. In other words, Buffett could've bought us all breakfast.
7. iCan't believe that
In 2014, Buffett's gain in net worth was greater than the $12.3 billion worth of iPods which have been sold over the last three years.
8. Voting with his wallet
The Center for Responsive Politics revealed that the 1,441 candidates that ran for the U.S. House of Representatives raised a little over $1 billion for the 2014 mid-term elections. Buffett made that much every month.
9. Add this to your playlist
In July The Wall Street Journal reported that Google backed away from buying streaming music service Spotify around this time last year because the price was apparently a bit too high, as it was commanding a valuation of roughly $10 billion.
Source: Flickr / HotGossipItalia.
But with that sort of valuation Buffett could've purchased Spotify and Beats Music & Electronics -- which was sold to Apple in May for $3 billion -- as well.
10. Listen to me now
With music in mind, Forbes estimates that Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Katy Perry made $267 million combined in 2014. Buffett made that much roughly every week.
11. $20,400,000,000
Due to Amazon (AMZN -2.56%) and Berkshire Hathaway's stocks moving in opposite directions, in 2014 Jeff Bezos saw his net worth drop by $7.4 billion, creating a $20.4 billion gap between the accumulation of wealth between he and Buffett in 2014.
AMZN data by YCharts
12. Putting Buffett on the map
The World Bank notes in 2013 Albania -- defined as a country with an "upper middle income level" -- had a gross domestic product of $12.9 billion. That means Buffett watched his net worth rise by more than what a country of 2.9 million produced.
13. $12,870,000,000
This last point is the most important one. Through The Giving Pledge a number of the world's richest people have dedicated their accumulated wealth to serve better purposes than simply increasing their own personal bank accounts. Buffett in his own words:
My pledge: More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. In a comparative sense, though, many individuals give more to others every day.
With the new year upon us, may we all seek to give more as well.
