Warren buffet got away with a lot of stuff despite claiming to be an “aww shucks” investor. For example he got a pass for having a board full of yes men. He had congress change inheritance laws so he could pass money to his wife if he died. re: guarantees, the deal with Goldman didn’t come with a guarantee. The fact he made a deal gave the market confidence that the banks weren’t going under. Many investors benefited directly from from government guarantees, like soc gen and SABA that had Goldman as counterparties on short CDS trades. They earned on the CDS and Goldman didn’t go under and this paid out. Re: moodys, I don’t disagree. He was long moodys at the same time decrying derivatives (cds and cds squared) as weapons of mass destruction. on the flip side, he had a mistress and a wife living under the same roof at the same time. The wife suggested it.
What annoys me about Buffett is his pushing of Benjamin Graham's book for the average Retail Investor. Even Graham admitted that chit no longer worked. Value investing as per Buffett books must be the demise of more Retail traders than Options.
it works. Just the specific thresholds don’t work and you need to move faster. One of buffets new CIO’s turned a 100k IRA into 300mm over thirty years doing it.
Believe me, when Buffett goes there's going to be A LOT of shite that comes out about the man, and none of it good. Only a low IQer would fall for his 'awe shucks, I'm just a hamburger eating cherry coke kind of guy'. That's what he wants you to think... One of his tricks when buying a private firm was to get the owner(s) to think that if they go to Wall Street the jackals will do what jackals do. Stay with me, look I eat hamburgers and they eat caviar,. Wall Steet won't have your back, I will (as he LOWBALLS them into submission). But if they went to Wall Street, and got some protection if needed, Wall Street would have got them a far better price than Buffett would ever consider paying.
Buffet built a brand of integrity. He could get a lower price because he guaranteed a simple close (no repricings) and current management would be able to run the business unobstructed in the future. He didn’t come in a change things the way other owners (especially PE ones). smart people wanted to sell to him.
The man is walking off with a mic drop. He is the only one of that level who didn't lose money on 2025 Trump's tariff. Oops... https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/05/war...el-to-become-ceo-at-year-end-board-votes.html
Have you guys watched the annual meeting for shareholders? I tried, but I couldn't understand a full sentence. Six hours watching the guy trying to articulate a sentence is too hard for anyone. He deserves to rest.
aw, shucks what a panic attack he had until they cancelled the 'mark to market'... He claimed that he was 90% Graham and 10% Fisher once, and it was the opposite. He said a lot of meaningless BS, but the gullible ate it all.