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This is fascinating, because from what I've heard, Warren Buffett did not favor tech stocks. Does anyone know what gave Buffett the faith that this company was

This is fascinating, because from what I've heard, Warren Buffett did not favor tech stocks. Does anyone know what gave Buffett the faith that this company was a real deal?

dalyons 9mo ago
They “just” were a battery company then. Is that considered tech?
jimbokun 9mo ago
Maybe he was more afraid of software dominated stocks? BYD is at heart an automobile manufacturer and so maybe he felt more confident evaluating it using his normal tools.
holmesch 9mo ago
It was Charlie Munger who became enthusiastic about BYD after learning about it from investor Li Lu, leading him to convince Buffett to make Berkshire Hathaway's $230 million investment in 2008.
drited 9mo ago
Yes the circumstances are well known. Li Liu convinced Munger and Munger talked to Buffett.
csomar 9mo ago
Munger believed in the founder from the very early days before it was a car company.
PlanksVariable 9mo ago
It's a car and battery company, isn't it? Framing it as a tech company is a bit weird, but I guess Tesla did the same. Buffett didn't love automobile stocks either, but Berkshire Hathaway held General Motors from 2012 to 2023.
epolanski 9mo ago
I think this was mostly a Munger pet investment, he had an extremely high opinion about the CEO and could see he was delivering on his goals one after another.
rswail 9mo ago
I remember vaguely an interview about it and he said he could understand the business and what was driving the industry and the technology. I think he said something about equivalent of selling shovels to miners in a boom, that PV was going to need storage etc.
rdtsc 9mo ago
He owns the largest railroad company in US. That’s no less “tech” than batteries, motors and other EV car bits.
Ekaros 9mo ago
Berkshire was never tech investor. They looked for solid manufacturing with good price and potential to scale like manufacturing. Not everything is tech and you can still grow without being tech.

This is fascinating, because from what I've heard, Warren Buffett did not favor tech stocks. Does anyone know what gave Buffett the faith that this company was a real deal?

dalyons 9mo ago

They “just” were a battery company then. Is that considered tech?

jimbokun 9mo ago

Maybe he was more afraid of software dominated stocks? BYD is at heart an automobile manufacturer and so maybe he felt more confident evaluating it using his normal tools.

holmesch 9mo ago

It was Charlie Munger who became enthusiastic about BYD after learning about it from investor Li Lu, leading him to convince Buffett to make Berkshire Hathaway's $230 million investment in 2008.

drited 9mo ago

Yes the circumstances are well known. Li Liu convinced Munger and Munger talked to Buffett.

csomar 9mo ago

Munger believed in the founder from the very early days before it was a car company.

PlanksVariable 9mo ago

It's a car and battery company, isn't it? Framing it as a tech company is a bit weird, but I guess Tesla did the same. Buffett didn't love automobile stocks either, but Berkshire Hathaway held General Motors from 2012 to 2023.

epolanski 9mo ago

I think this was mostly a Munger pet investment, he had an extremely high opinion about the CEO and could see he was delivering on his goals one after another.

rswail 9mo ago

I remember vaguely an interview about it and he said he could understand the business and what was driving the industry and the technology. I think he said something about equivalent of selling shovels to miners in a boom, that PV was going to need storage etc.

rdtsc 9mo ago

He owns the largest railroad company in US. That’s no less “tech” than batteries, motors and other EV car bits.

Ekaros 9mo ago

Berkshire was never tech investor. They looked for solid manufacturing with good price and potential to scale like manufacturing. Not everything is tech and you can still grow without being tech.