Today, Warren Buffett is synonymous with Berkshire Hathaway, but his path to owning the company began with a surprisingly personal dispute rather than a carefully planned investment strategy.

In the early 1960s, Buffett’s investment partnership began buying shares of Berkshire Hathaway, then a struggling New England textile manufacturer. Buffett initially viewed the company as a short-term investment. As Berkshire closed unprofitable mills, it used some of the proceeds to repurchase its own stock, allowing investors like Buffett to sell their shares at a profit.

According to Buffett, Berkshire’s management verbally indicated it would buy back his shares at $11.50 per share. When the formal tender offer arrived, however, it was $11.375 per share—just 12½ cents less per share. The total difference amounted to roughly $1,000 for Buffett’s holdings. Although the amount was relatively small, he felt the company had gone back on its word.

Rather than selling, Buffett reacted by purchasing even more Berkshire shares until he became the company’s largest shareholder. In 1965, he gained control of the business and replaced its management. What started as frustration over a relatively minor pricing dispute ultimately gave Buffett ownership of the company that would define his career.

Years later, Buffett admitted the decision was driven more by emotion than logic. He has repeatedly described buying Berkshire’s textile business as one of the biggest investment mistakes of his career because the textile operations continued losing money for years. He later remarked that if he had invested the same money directly into a high-quality insurance business instead, he likely would have earned substantially higher returns.

Instead of abandoning Berkshire altogether, Buffett gradually transformed it from a failing textile manufacturer into a diversified holding company.