I have really enjoyed your writings on Berkshire. Is it possible to dig up some info on the persons taking over Berkshire ie Todd Combs Greg Abel and ted weschler.
I am definitely planning to write more about the next generation of Berkshire leaders. Even though they keep a pretty low profile, I'm always on the lookout for more info on them and their management/investment philosophies.
I once said to Warren, after I had gotten to know him: you are right, we don’t have to be mathematical geniuses to be successful; we learn early that 2+2=4–some off us go through life looking for 5–our real challenge is putting two and two together in the real world. To which he added that we only need a few fours to be successful. That’s like Charlie noting that he had never seen Warren calculate a present value. To which Warren replied, if he had to it wouldn’t be worth it.
Regarding Weschler and his Pace investment, I did the same buying Berkshire in ‘79: I maxed out my cards and deducted the interest from—in those days—high marginal-tax income. And I now have nearly $150,000 in deferred taxes per A share working for me, a nice private float.
Thank you or pulling together treasure trove on Warren and Charlie! I have a few I could add.
Oh, and please do feel free to add in any of your stories and knowledge any time. I'm always trying to learn more about Warren and Charlie -- it's a big job!
I think my most endearing story is from Ed Anderson, who initially brought Warren to my attention in about 1976. For some reason Alice Schroeder never learned of it.
Some 20 years after first hearing of Warren from Ed at an dinner at the University of Chicago and by then he was my serious, self-selected, mentor, I was sitting in Ed’s hotel room at the Sheraton Commander in Cambridge. He told me how he meet Warren—he owned some shares in a Graham-Newman fund and stopped by to see, if he could meet Ben. Instead they sent young Warren out; Ed and Warren became close friends. He and Warren became godfathers of their respective children. (Ed, incidentally, later worked for Charlie when Charlie ran a partnership. When I first met him in the mid-‘70, he was managing partner of Tweedy, Brown.) Ed was very cautious about revealing personal stories about Warren—but he did tell me that he had begun to compile a file of stories. I have no idea where that file might now be—Ed died a few years ago.
He then told me the story about his divorce from his wife in the late ‘70s. It had been proceeding for a year. One day Warren called to say that he and friends were becoming worried that their divorce was threatening to become nasty and only the lawyers would benefit. Warren said he had a proposal: if he and his wife would each prepare an itemized list of their assets noting which they thought belonged to whom, he would decide what he thought would be a fair distribution, and, unless he was wildly off base, they would agree in advance to accept his recommendation. And he added that Ed’s wife had already agreed to this, and Ed did as well. They produced their respective lists and met on one of Warren’s regular visits to NY; Warren presented his recommendation; Ed and his wife agreed, shook hands, and that was it. When Ed told me the story, he added, with his voice breaking, what his former wife had just sent him a bottle of champaign to celebrate what would have been, likely, their 40th anniversary. Warren couldn’t save the marriage, but he saved the friendship, and Ed was deeply grateful.
To me this is a wonderful example of Warren’s character. It captures why he has been able to build an enormous margin of trust, which we shareholders/students cherish. With this story in mind I will tell a couple who might be having a difficult time to see if they can find a close friend whose judgment they both fully respect—and ask this person for help. My wife and I did that once—nearly 20 years ago.
Sorry to be so long. I hope telling it captures why I found it such a memorable story. Warren is truly a remarkable person, way beyond being just a good stock picker.
Arthur -- These stories are incredible. Thanks so much for sharing them! I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of this. What a wonderful example of Warren's character and the deep respect that he obviously engendered from his friends.
I've been meaning to do more research on Ed Anderson and to learn more about him, and this story has definitely inspired me to do so. Thanks again for so kindly sharing it here!
And I love, from the other story, the part about never calculating present value. I'm always amazed at how Warren and Charlie make their points so effectively and simply. Makes it much easier to internalize their lessons and examples.
What a tremendous buy. I would have loved to have gotten in early on Berkshire like that. Not just for the obvious financial gains, but to have been able to follow along with the company's progress all those decades with skin in the game as a shareholder.
I have really enjoyed your writings on Berkshire. Is it possible to dig up some info on the persons taking over Berkshire ie Todd Combs Greg Abel and ted weschler.
Hi Kevin -- Thanks! Much appreciated :)
I am definitely planning to write more about the next generation of Berkshire leaders. Even though they keep a pretty low profile, I'm always on the lookout for more info on them and their management/investment philosophies.
Here are some links to previous articles I've done on Combs (https://www.kingswell.io/p/we-are-all-wet-cement-and-other-lessons) and Abel (https://www.kingswell.io/p/more-good-news-on-greg-abel). Thanks again!
Here is another story:
I once said to Warren, after I had gotten to know him: you are right, we don’t have to be mathematical geniuses to be successful; we learn early that 2+2=4–some off us go through life looking for 5–our real challenge is putting two and two together in the real world. To which he added that we only need a few fours to be successful. That’s like Charlie noting that he had never seen Warren calculate a present value. To which Warren replied, if he had to it wouldn’t be worth it.
Regarding Weschler and his Pace investment, I did the same buying Berkshire in ‘79: I maxed out my cards and deducted the interest from—in those days—high marginal-tax income. And I now have nearly $150,000 in deferred taxes per A share working for me, a nice private float.
Thank you or pulling together treasure trove on Warren and Charlie! I have a few I could add.
Oh, and please do feel free to add in any of your stories and knowledge any time. I'm always trying to learn more about Warren and Charlie -- it's a big job!
I think my most endearing story is from Ed Anderson, who initially brought Warren to my attention in about 1976. For some reason Alice Schroeder never learned of it.
Some 20 years after first hearing of Warren from Ed at an dinner at the University of Chicago and by then he was my serious, self-selected, mentor, I was sitting in Ed’s hotel room at the Sheraton Commander in Cambridge. He told me how he meet Warren—he owned some shares in a Graham-Newman fund and stopped by to see, if he could meet Ben. Instead they sent young Warren out; Ed and Warren became close friends. He and Warren became godfathers of their respective children. (Ed, incidentally, later worked for Charlie when Charlie ran a partnership. When I first met him in the mid-‘70, he was managing partner of Tweedy, Brown.) Ed was very cautious about revealing personal stories about Warren—but he did tell me that he had begun to compile a file of stories. I have no idea where that file might now be—Ed died a few years ago.
He then told me the story about his divorce from his wife in the late ‘70s. It had been proceeding for a year. One day Warren called to say that he and friends were becoming worried that their divorce was threatening to become nasty and only the lawyers would benefit. Warren said he had a proposal: if he and his wife would each prepare an itemized list of their assets noting which they thought belonged to whom, he would decide what he thought would be a fair distribution, and, unless he was wildly off base, they would agree in advance to accept his recommendation. And he added that Ed’s wife had already agreed to this, and Ed did as well. They produced their respective lists and met on one of Warren’s regular visits to NY; Warren presented his recommendation; Ed and his wife agreed, shook hands, and that was it. When Ed told me the story, he added, with his voice breaking, what his former wife had just sent him a bottle of champaign to celebrate what would have been, likely, their 40th anniversary. Warren couldn’t save the marriage, but he saved the friendship, and Ed was deeply grateful.
To me this is a wonderful example of Warren’s character. It captures why he has been able to build an enormous margin of trust, which we shareholders/students cherish. With this story in mind I will tell a couple who might be having a difficult time to see if they can find a close friend whose judgment they both fully respect—and ask this person for help. My wife and I did that once—nearly 20 years ago.
Sorry to be so long. I hope telling it captures why I found it such a memorable story. Warren is truly a remarkable person, way beyond being just a good stock picker.
Arthur -- These stories are incredible. Thanks so much for sharing them! I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of this. What a wonderful example of Warren's character and the deep respect that he obviously engendered from his friends.
I've been meaning to do more research on Ed Anderson and to learn more about him, and this story has definitely inspired me to do so. Thanks again for so kindly sharing it here!
And I love, from the other story, the part about never calculating present value. I'm always amazed at how Warren and Charlie make their points so effectively and simply. Makes it much easier to internalize their lessons and examples.
Thanks! Much appreciated :)
What a tremendous buy. I would have loved to have gotten in early on Berkshire like that. Not just for the obvious financial gains, but to have been able to follow along with the company's progress all those decades with skin in the game as a shareholder.