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I read this letter. > The fact is that I gave Berkshire stock to the sellers of Dexter rather than cash, and the shares I used for the purchase are now worth a

I read this letter. > The fact is that I gave Berkshire stock to the sellers of Dexter rather than cash, and the shares I used for the purchase are now worth about $5.7 billion. As a financial disaster, this one deserves a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Two comments about this: I don't think Buffet has a good concept of financial disaster. Having or not having an extra $5b today makes little difference to the scale of Buffet's and Berkshire Hathaway's wealth. This does not materially change their financial position and cannot have precipitated a crisis situation. Does Buffet really begrudge the fact that somebody else got rich from a fair deal? Perhaps I am misreading this section, but I feel very disappointed by this.

Spearchucker 12y ago
He amassed that fortune by paying that kind of attention to detail. He keeps his fortune by paying that kind of attention to detail. All great artists are great because of attention at the macro- and micro-level. To you it's disappointment. To him it's a missed opportunity because of a bad decision. An opportunity missed, whether great or little, is something the man clearly dislikes.
- learnstats2 12y ago
  Based on the detail given, I'm not even convinced that this was a bad decision for Buffet. Somebody else has $5b, but this is not a zero-sum game. Every decision, including this one, contributed towards Buffet's and Berkshire's position today. Presumably Buffet took that decision to rather invest the cash in something else - which has apparently done just fine.
slaxman 12y ago
I do not think that's the point. For Buffet, allocating capital perfectly is extremely important. I used to read his letters regularly until a couple of years ago. In all his letters, he always seemed to blame himself for investing in bad companies. But at the same time, gave all the credit for profits to his CEOs. IMHO, there is a lot of humility in that.
sumedh 12y ago
> I don't think Buffet has a good concept of financial disaster. Buffett's brain is not wired like the rest of us. He even takes losing small amount of money very seriously. I remember watching Buffett's old video where he bought a gas station when he was young and then sold it as loss of $2000. He said that that the opportunity cost on that money is about $6 billion in early 2000.
aczerepinski 12y ago
Buffett's letters are always full of praise for his CEOs, and self depricating notes about his own errors. He's aiming for a folksy humility, reminding us that "the world's greatest investor" still makes genuine mistakes. The book of world records line is meant to be funny.
- techstrategist 12y ago
  Absolutely. This is a combination of tongue-in-cheek and a revealing view into his introspective nature.

Spearchucker 12y ago

He amassed that fortune by paying that kind of attention to detail. He keeps his fortune by paying that kind of attention to detail. All great artists are great because of attention at the macro- and micro-level. To you it's disappointment. To him it's a missed opportunity because of a bad decision. An opportunity missed, whether great or little, is something the man clearly dislikes.

learnstats2 12y ago
Based on the detail given, I'm not even convinced that this was a bad decision for Buffet. Somebody else has $5b, but this is not a zero-sum game. Every decision, including this one, contributed towards Buffet's and Berkshire's position today. Presumably Buffet took that decision to rather invest the cash in something else - which has apparently done just fine.

slaxman 12y ago

I do not think that's the point. For Buffet, allocating capital perfectly is extremely important. I used to read his letters regularly until a couple of years ago. In all his letters, he always seemed to blame himself for investing in bad companies. But at the same time, gave all the credit for profits to his CEOs. IMHO, there is a lot of humility in that.

sumedh 12y ago

> I don't think Buffet has a good concept of financial disaster. Buffett's brain is not wired like the rest of us. He even takes losing small amount of money very seriously. I remember watching Buffett's old video where he bought a gas station when he was young and then sold it as loss of $2000. He said that that the opportunity cost on that money is about $6 billion in early 2000.

aczerepinski 12y ago

Buffett's letters are always full of praise for his CEOs, and self depricating notes about his own errors. He's aiming for a folksy humility, reminding us that "the world's greatest investor" still makes genuine mistakes. The book of world records line is meant to be funny.

techstrategist 12y ago
Absolutely. This is a combination of tongue-in-cheek and a revealing view into his introspective nature.