Bill Ackman Says Warren Buffett Told Him He Hadn’t Had Water for 48 Years
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman (founder and CEO of Pershing Square) recalled on the Equity Mates Investing podcast, which aired this week, that Warren Buffett had come to his home for dinner many years ago. Ackman had prepared Buffett’s preferred Cherry Coke in advance. During the meal, Ackman asked Buffett whether he wanted still water or sparkling water, and Buffett declined, choosing soda instead. When Ackman followed up and asked whether he drank water, Buffett replied: Bill, I have not had water for 48 years.
Ackman did not give a specific dinner date. The remark came from his personal recollection, not from any recent public statement by Buffett, and it did not confirm his current drinking habits. The report noted that Buffett has long been known for Cherry Coke, and at Berkshire’s 1986 shareholder meeting he announced that he was ending his “48 years of loyalty” to Pepsi-Cola, switching to Cherry Coke and making it the meeting’s official drink. In 2015, he said he drank about 5 cans of Coca-Cola a day, or about one quarter of his daily caloric intake.
Original sources
Business Insider report (Theron Mohamed, October 30, 2026): https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-bill-ackman-water-coke-soda-junk-food-diet-2026-10
IBTimes UK report (October 30/31, 2026): https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/bill-ackman-warren-buffett-48-years-without-water-1829188
ABAB AI Insight
The anecdote recounted by Ackman closely matches Buffett’s publicly recorded soda preference, especially the wording from the 1986 shareholder letter and meeting about “48 years of loyalty” to another soda, which gives the claim that he had not had water for 48 years some chronological resonance. However, the remark is only a recollection from a private dinner, lacks independent verification or confirmation from Buffett himself, and does not rule out exaggeration or a joke. Buffett’s long-term high-soda intake has been recorded in multiple interviews and intersects with his major Coca-Cola stake as both an investment and a lifestyle habit. Similar anecdotes are often amplified by the media, but the core remains at the level of personal habit rather than independently verifiable physiological or medical fact.