TRNAVA, a town in western Slovakia, is one of the many places around the world where Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world, conducts business.
The financial investor has replaced Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, at the top of the chart of the richest men in the world published by Forbes magazine, the Sme daily wrote.
Johns Manville, a Buffett-owned firm, bought Skloplast in Trnava seven years ago, investing more than Sk6 billion in its technologies.
The company, which currently produces parts mainly for car plants, employs more than 1,200 people and has annual revenues of about Sk5 billion.
Besides Buffett and Gates, other millionaires are active in Slovakia, too. The fifth richest man in the world, Lakshmi Mittal, originally from India, bought OFZ Istebné, a metallurgical plant, last year. Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden, the second richest man in Europe and seventh worldwide, owns IKEA. And the richest Russian, Oleg Deripaska, conducts business in Slovakia through the construction company Strabag.
Buffett is not very well known in Slovakia, as no famous brand bears his name. With assets amounting to $62 billion, he has ended Gates' 13-year reign at the top of the chart. Gates is now the third richest man in the world.
