Warren
Buffett... The Oracle
of Omaha
Warren
Buffet is not a marketing guru... But, Warren Buffet is no doubt
the most successful stock market investor in modern history.
Second only to Bill Gates as the richest man in the Western world,
Buffet made his money over the long term by carefully selected
investing in companies that he considered undervalued..
Then
when the people who make up the vast market of investors in the
stock market realize the true value of the company...
Warren
is right where he wants to be, a big investor at a low cost.
Warren Buffett is the largest stockholder in Coca-Cola and has
held the stock for many years.
The
stock is now selling about 50 times earnings... a multiple that
scares a lot of people but Warren believes so strongly in ' Name
Brand Recognition '
that
he is hanging on. Of course, he also may not want to pay the
taxes if he sold.
Warren
Buffett is from Omaha, a relatively small town in Nebraska. In
his younger days Warren went East to make his fortune and met
a guy named Ben Graham who was the ultimate stock market prognosticator
at the time. After a few years in Ben's employ, Warren decided
he would trade the fast life of the East for the small town of
his youth. Buffet moved back to Omaha to the house he grew up
in, but he didn't forget Graham's teachings. Graham has written
a book or two on investing which should easily be found in your
public library. Warren Buffet and his sidekick, Charlie Munger,
still practice the
original
teachings of Ben Graham in their daily forecasting. You've undoubtedly
heard of the saying: " Buy low and sell high ".
Warren's
motto takes it a step further and advances the theory: "
Buy low and never sell ".
Buffet's
stock company, Berkshire-Hathaway, is listed on the NYSE at something
under $50,000 a share down from about $85,000 a share a year
ago. Needless to say, Warren did not ride out the great tech
stock boom of the last few years.
Since
Warren Buffett believes in the adage " Invest in what You
Know " he did not immediately jump on theinformation super-highway
. However, Buffett has had such an amazing track record that
there is no question that his stock price will be back soon.
A
friend of mine and former partner bought a single share in Berkshire-Hathaway
a few years ago and goes to the annual meetings in Omaha, Nebraska.
He has met some well known people at these meetings... Katherine
Graham, editor of the Washington Post, Debbie Reynolds, and Michael
Eisner of Disney... to name a few. He has even photographed the
house where Warren Buffet lives which is the house he was born
in. The first year my friend had the wrong house in his newsletter...
but after getting 'set straight' he corrected the error in his
second edition and now we all know where Warren lives.
After
his first annual meeting, my friend wrote a newsletter to all
his friends about meeting Buffet and Charlie Munger. Somehow
the letter got back to Warren and my friend has now become the
"Official Chronicler " of the Berkshire-Hathaway annual
meeting "
Everyone
just loves Warren Buffett. They better ! If they get upset and
ever try to get rid of Warren... they are out of luck because
Warren owns over half the stock in the company. No one is about
to vote him out ! That bit of information is priceless since
it illustrates one of the main Warren Buffet keys to success...
" Control " Remember that, don't ever give up control!