| 10th March 2010
- |
“Most managers talk the talk but don't walk the walk, choosing instead to employ compensation systems that are long on carrots but short on sticks (and that almost invariably treat equity capital as if it were cost-free).” -Warren Buffett
|
| 9th March 2010
- |
“Don’t think, however, that we have lost our taste for risk. We remain prepared to lose $6 billion in a single event, if we have been paid appropriately for assuming that risk. We are not willing, though, to take on even very small exposures at prices that don’t reflect our evaluation of loss probabilities. Appropriate prices don’t guarantee profits in any given year, but inappropriate prices most certainly guarantee eventual losses. Rates have recently fallen because a flood of capital has entered the super-cat field. We have therefore sharply reduced our wind exposures. Our behavior here parallels that which we employ in financial markets: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” -Warren Buffett
|
| 8th March 2010
- |
“Charlie and I detest taking even small risks unless we feel we are being adequately compensated for doing so. About as far as we will go down that path is occasionally eat cottage cheese a day after the expiration date on the carton.” -Warren Buffett
|
| 6th March 2010
- |
“Managers thinking about accounting issues should never forget one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite riddles: “How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?” The answer: “Four, because calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg.” It behooves managers to remember that Abe’s right even if an auditor is willing to certify that the tail is a leg.” -Warren Buffett
|
| 5th March 2010
- |
“Woody Allen once explained why eclecticism works: "The real advantage of being bisexual is that it doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night." -Warren Buffett |
| 4th March 2010
- |
“The change brings to mind a New Yorker cartoon in which the grateful borrower rises to shake the hand of the bank's lending officer and gushes: "I don't know how I'll ever repay you."” -Warren Buffett
|
| 3rd March 2010
- |
“Some major financial institutions have, however, experienced staggering problems because they engaged in the “weakened lending practices” I described in last year’s letter. John Stumpf, CEO of Wells Fargo, aptly dissected the recent behavior of many lenders: “It is interesting that the industry has invented new ways to lose money when the old ways seemed to work just fine.”” -Warren Buffett |
| 2nd March 2010
- |
“A gorgeous woman slinks up to a CEO at a party and through her moist lips purrs “I'll do anything-anything. Just tell me what you would like.” With no hesitation, he replies, “reprice my options.”” -Warren Buffett |
| 27th February 2010
- |
"We've long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortunetellers look good. Even now, Charlie and I continue to believe that short-term market forecasts are poison and should be kept locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children." -Warren Buffett |
| 26th February 2010
- |
“Charlie Rose: Dumbest mistake you ever made?
Warren Buffett: The dumbest mistake I ever made was, probably, will be in the future. No, you make plenty of mistakes, plenty of mistakes, Charlie. I can look back on every year in terms of mistake I’ve made.” -Warren Buffett
|
| 25th February 2010
- |
“Agonizing over errors is a mistake. But acknowledging and analyzing them can be useful, although that practice is rare in corporate boardrooms....Dumb decisions either get no follow-up or are rationalized.” -Warren Buffett |
| 24th February 2010
- |
“The job of CEO's is now to regain America's trust-and for the country's sake it's important that they do so. They will not succeed in this endeavor, however, by way of fatuous ads, meaningless policy statements, structural changes of boards and com¬mittees. Instead, CEO's must embrace stewardship as a way of life and treat owners as partners, not patsies. It's time for CEO's to walk the walk.” -Warren Buffett |
| 23rd February 2010
- |
“I have learned an incredible amount from Warren, some of them are things you can express, like really looking at the time on your calendar, valuing as much free time as possible. I love when Warren gets out his calendar.” -Bill Gates |
| 22nd February 2010
- |
"We both insist on a lot of time being available almost everyday to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. We read and think. So Warren and I do more reading and thinking and less doing than most people in business. We do that because we like that kind of a life." -Charlie Munger |
| 20th February 2010
- |
“Let me pause for a brief confession. In criticizing comp committee behavior, I don't speak as a true insider. Though I have served as a director of twenty public companies, only one CEO has put me on his comp committee. Hmmmm . . .” -Warren Buffett |
| 19th February 2010
- |
“I have been the Typhoid Mary of compensation committees.”-Warren Buffett |
| 18th February 2010
- |
“In contrast, we include no narrative with our quarterly reports. Our owners and managers both have very long time-horizons in regard to this business, and it is difficult to say anything new or meaningful each quarter about events of long-term significance.” -Warren Buffett |
| 16th February 2010
- |
"Our prototype for occupational fervor is the Catholic tailor who used his small savings of many years to finance a pilgrimage to the Vatican. When he returned, his parish held a special meeting to get his first - hand account of the pope. “Tell us,” said the eager faithful, “just what sort of fellow is he?” Our hero wasted no words: “He’s a 44 medium.”-Warren Buffett |
| 15th February 2010
- |
"So when I buy a business, I am usually buying the manager with them, because I don’t know how to run the business. So when someone comes along that wants to sell their business, I have to look at them in the eye and I have to decide whether they love the money or love the business. It’s okay to love the money, but they have to love the business." -Warren Buffett |
| 13th February 2010
- |
"Our managers have produced extraordinary results by doing rather ordinary things — but doing them exceptionally well. Our managers protect their franchises, they control costs, they search for new products and markets that build their existing strengths and they don’t get diverted. They work exceptionally hard at the details of their businesses, and it shows." -Warren Buffett |
|
Next page |
