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Warren Buffett is a great investor but nobody in finance buys his folksy image. Everybody knows he's an animal. I heard from folks in the room that the way 3G

Warren Buffett is a great investor but nobody in finance buys his folksy image. Everybody knows he's an animal. I heard from folks in the room that the way 3G and Buffett came in to do layoffs at Tim Hortons was one of the most cold blooded things they've ever seen.

csomar 11mo ago
Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Dude runs a rail and insurance monopoly while buying large top stocks for yield. He maintains a persona of this traditional and nice family dude who is old and wise. But this is the US, and people are ranked/valued by how rich they are regardless of how it is acquired. Still, he avoided political scrutiny (say comparing to Musk or Bezos) by maintaining this image. That was wise.
- unmole 11mo ago
  > Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Find a better dictionary.
- Balgair 11mo ago
  The image machine for him really is something. Buffet is a bigamist. By all intents and purposes he lived with two wives. The legal status was not that of bigamy, to be clear. He married his other wife after his first wife died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett The personal section here is not exactly false, but is a great example of how one should not trust Wikipedia outright. A careful reading of it shows his lifelong relationships/marriage with two women at the same time. Look, I'm not going to yuck his yum. Do whatever you want man. But the homely aww shucks image is very intentional. And very much against his actual life choices. Homespun he ain't.
  - randyrand 11mo ago
    To be clear, he had 1 wife and a mistress. I agree it's not in line with his traditional image, but it's not illegal.
    - Eddy_Viscosity2 11mo ago
      For someone with his wealth, having only one mistress shows some self-constraint.
    - tim333 11mo ago
      Not even really a mistress. His first wife left him and then he got a girlfriend who he married after the first wife died. In modern America peoples marriages breaking down and then them getting together with someone else is pretty common.
  - Flatcircle 11mo ago
    Not a bigmaist, Had a wife, they split up, but didn't get divorced because he had no prenup and he was one of the wealthiest people in the country. After she died he married again.
epolanski 11mo ago
He's donated, already, the equivalent of 200+ billions USD (give or take 420M class B shares). Say what you want, but the list of billionaires who have donated such large amounts of money while still alive (or dead) is small. Cherry picking events like layoffs, without truly knowing how much was he involved (Berkshire directors notoriously enjoy lots of autonomy) or if the layoffs made sense, etc, seems a stretch when we're drowned with sociopath world-ruling-ambitious CEOs, from Musk to Altman, through Thiele.
- badpenny 11mo ago
  If somebody focuses on something negative, it's cherry-picking, but if you focus on something positive it isn't? How much money has he saved dodging taxes over the years[1]? [1]: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trov...
  - epolanski 11mo ago
    You really fighting on the wrong side of the hill, Buffett has advocated for higher taxes for ages. He's neve made it a secret and he's always said that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. In any case, what am I looking at here? There's no tax dodging. He gets paid 100Mish per year and pays taxes on those amounts. You don't get taxes on your stock appreciation until you sell.
  - NicoJuicy 11mo ago
    You lose by not playing the game, it doesn't mean you "like" it.
  - willis936 11mo ago
    Benchmarking against a single person doesn't make sense. Consider how philanthropic someone is vs. how philanthropic they could be with their means. This list helps give perspective. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/2025/02/03/americas-most-generous-philanthropists-2025/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/2025/02/03/ame...
tim333 11mo ago
It's funny - having followed Buffett for a while I was going to dispute the everyone knows he's an animal bit but wasn't sure of the definition of an animal in that context so googled it and google's AI came back referencing your HN post(!): >The specific phrase was noted in a recent online discussion related to Warren Buffett, where a user commented, "Warren Buffett is a great investor but nobody in finance buys his folksy image. Everybody knows he's an animal," to suggest he is a ruthless, cold-blooded businessman, likely in reference to aggressive business tactics like mass layoffs. Anyway I don't think he's a ruthless cold-blooded type, although he is educated and very hard working. Also sometimes layoffs happen in business.
hackmack10 11mo ago
Just look at how he chopped up GEICO (his favorite company). The company imploded under Buffets hand picked snake of a CEO (Todd Combs).
- tim333 11mo ago
  Seems to be making decent profits though https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insights/research/geico-shows-spectacular-profitability-in-2024-but-lackluster-growth https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insight...
  - hackmack10 11mo ago
    Only after they gutted half of their employees. It probably won't be long lasting.

csomar 11mo ago

Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Dude runs a rail and insurance monopoly while buying large top stocks for yield. He maintains a persona of this traditional and nice family dude who is old and wise. But this is the US, and people are ranked/valued by how rich they are regardless of how it is acquired. Still, he avoided political scrutiny (say comparing to Musk or Bezos) by maintaining this image. That was wise.

unmole 11mo ago
> Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Find a better dictionary.
Balgair 11mo ago
The image machine for him really is something. Buffet is a bigamist. By all intents and purposes he lived with two wives. The legal status was not that of bigamy, to be clear. He married his other wife after his first wife died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett The personal section here is not exactly false, but is a great example of how one should not trust Wikipedia outright. A careful reading of it shows his lifelong relationships/marriage with two women at the same time. Look, I'm not going to yuck his yum. Do whatever you want man. But the homely aww shucks image is very intentional. And very much against his actual life choices. Homespun he ain't.
- randyrand 11mo ago
  To be clear, he had 1 wife and a mistress. I agree it's not in line with his traditional image, but it's not illegal.
  - Eddy_Viscosity2 11mo ago
    For someone with his wealth, having only one mistress shows some self-constraint.
  - tim333 11mo ago
    Not even really a mistress. His first wife left him and then he got a girlfriend who he married after the first wife died. In modern America peoples marriages breaking down and then them getting together with someone else is pretty common.
- Flatcircle 11mo ago
  Not a bigmaist, Had a wife, they split up, but didn't get divorced because he had no prenup and he was one of the wealthiest people in the country. After she died he married again.

epolanski 11mo ago

He's donated, already, the equivalent of 200+ billions USD (give or take 420M class B shares). Say what you want, but the list of billionaires who have donated such large amounts of money while still alive (or dead) is small. Cherry picking events like layoffs, without truly knowing how much was he involved (Berkshire directors notoriously enjoy lots of autonomy) or if the layoffs made sense, etc, seems a stretch when we're drowned with sociopath world-ruling-ambitious CEOs, from Musk to Altman, through Thiele.

badpenny 11mo ago
If somebody focuses on something negative, it's cherry-picking, but if you focus on something positive it isn't? How much money has he saved dodging taxes over the years[1]? [1]: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trov...
- epolanski 11mo ago
  You really fighting on the wrong side of the hill, Buffett has advocated for higher taxes for ages. He's neve made it a secret and he's always said that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. In any case, what am I looking at here? There's no tax dodging. He gets paid 100Mish per year and pays taxes on those amounts. You don't get taxes on your stock appreciation until you sell.
- NicoJuicy 11mo ago
  You lose by not playing the game, it doesn't mean you "like" it.
- willis936 11mo ago
  Benchmarking against a single person doesn't make sense. Consider how philanthropic someone is vs. how philanthropic they could be with their means. This list helps give perspective. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/2025/02/03/americas-most-generous-philanthropists-2025/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/2025/02/03/ame...

tim333 11mo ago

It's funny - having followed Buffett for a while I was going to dispute the everyone knows he's an animal bit but wasn't sure of the definition of an animal in that context so googled it and google's AI came back referencing your HN post(!): >The specific phrase was noted in a recent online discussion related to Warren Buffett, where a user commented, "Warren Buffett is a great investor but nobody in finance buys his folksy image. Everybody knows he's an animal," to suggest he is a ruthless, cold-blooded businessman, likely in reference to aggressive business tactics like mass layoffs. Anyway I don't think he's a ruthless cold-blooded type, although he is educated and very hard working. Also sometimes layoffs happen in business.

hackmack10 11mo ago

Just look at how he chopped up GEICO (his favorite company). The company imploded under Buffets hand picked snake of a CEO (Todd Combs).

tim333 11mo ago
Seems to be making decent profits though https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insights/research/geico-shows-spectacular-profitability-in-2024-but-lackluster-growth https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insight...
- hackmack10 11mo ago
  Only after they gutted half of their employees. It probably won't be long lasting.