Buffett to teach tiny tots ABC of finance on net

NEW YORK: Warren Buffett, whose market acumen spurred countless Americans to take their first steps as investors, is taking his insights to the online playground.

The billionaire will tutor tots about finance in an internet cartoon series scheduled to start this year or early next, producers A Squared Entertainment and Time Warner���s AOL said.

Martha Stewart, model Gisele Bundchen and the late astronomer Carl Sagan will also appear in their own series. Buffett���s character will host the ���Secret Millionaire���s Club���, where kids ���have adventures in business and learn financial lessons,��� the companies said.

The chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway came up with the idea and title himself, said A Squared co-President Andy Heyward, who produced movies for Buffett���s annual meetings.

���These are A-plus players,��� Heyward said in an interview. ���If you���re going to teach somebody, a kid, about financial literacy, who could be better than Warren Buffett?���

The 3-to-5-minute episodes will be introduced on AOL sites and then carried elsewhere, according to LA-based A Squared. The new children���s entertainment company is in talks with additional celebrities, Heyward said.



In ���Little Martha���, a working title, a 10-year-old Stewart runs an event-planning company from her ���tricked-out treehouse.���

Stewart founded Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which produces television shows and magazines, and licenses crafts, food and home goods. In ���Gigi & The Green Team��� Bundchen is a ���supermodel by day, superhero protector of the environment by night.���

Sagan���s series ���Kosmos��� is based on his ���Cosmos��� television series. Heyward and his wife Amy Moynihan formed A Squared this year.A Squared will produce the segments, and MGX Lab, a New York-based marketing company, will add games and activities to support the episodes��� content, according to the statement.