Buffett has called Henry Singleton the greatest capital allocator of all time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Earl_Singleton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He

Buffett has called Henry Singleton the greatest capital allocator of all time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Earl_Singleton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Earl_Singleton Basically, the Singleton model was to focus on the long term on building his company Teledyne (started out building aerospace systems/microelectronics). What Singleton did was recognize when his stock was over and undervalued. During periods of overvaluation, he would issue stock and use it as currency to acquire other companies. This was pretty smart because he was able to get new businesses using a currency that was temporarily worth more than cash (the inflated shares). Then, during market downturns, he would repurchase shares. He basically was able to operate efficiently in both periods of over and undervaluation, while creating value for shareholders. Here's a decent article on Singleton: http://www.observer.com/2003/04/the-brain-behind-teledyne-a-great-american-capitalist/ http://www.observer.com/2003/04/the-brain-behind-teledyne-a-...