He has stated many times that he could do it from scratch again. He has said that he could do better if he didn't have so much money to invest. The amount of funds he has limits his activities.
You don't need influence, you just need to do DD and be willing to invest the time to research the potential investments.
While we all can't necessarily do as well as Buffet, it isn't really that hard to do well over time. Of course you have to be willing to do real investing and not gambling. (Pink sheets are off limits)
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