Furor Grows Over Munger’s ‘Suck It Up and Cope’ Comment
There probably is no other prominent American who is less suited to the sound bite than Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger. In any particular appearance, specific comments made by Mr. Munger can be collected in a manner that leads ...
Charlie Munger Speaks to University of Michigan Law Students
In a rare appearance at the University of Michigan, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger participated in an extended discussion with CNBC anchor Becky Quick. Read this article for a brief quote and a link to the video ...
Berkshire Hathaway May Acquire Full Ownership of Wesco Financial
In a 13D filing today with the SEC, Berkshire Hathaway has disclosed its intention to acquire the remaining 19.9 percent of the shares of Wesco Financial Corporation that it does not already own. Wesco has been a majority controlled subsidiary ...
BYD Faces Trouble Over China Land-Use Violation
BYD has encountered a few rough patches lately with cuts to its sales target for 2010 and second quarter profits that were significantly below consensus estimates. These developments have resulted in a sharp drop in BYD’s share price with the ...
Lou Simpson Plans to Retire from GEICO in December
According to an article in The Chicago Tribune, Lou Simpson is planning to retire from GEICO at the end of 2010. Mr. Simpson is President and CEO of Capital Operations. Tony Nicely is Chairman, President, and CEO of GEICO's insurance ...
Wesco Financial’s Results Improve Despite Continued Weak Sales at CORT
Wesco Financial Corporation reported improved results (pdf) for the second quarter of 2010 with net income rising to $31.3 million compared with $12.9 million for the second quarter of 2009. The improved performance is primarily attributed to the stronger underwriting ...
BYD Cuts Sales Target Amid Capacity Constraints
BYD has announced a 25 percent reduction for its 2010 sales target due to capacity constraints. The company now expects to sell 600,000 vehicles. However, this figure would still represent rapid growth as evidenced by the company's 63.5 percent growth ...
Li Lu’s Lecture at Greenwald’s Columbia University Value Investing Class
Who is Li Lu? According to his Wikipedia entry, Li Lu was an organizer of the student protests movement and took part in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. After the post-Tiananmen crackdown, Mr. Lu had to flee mainland China ...
The Inoculated Investor’s Value Investing Congress Meeting Notes
The Value Investing Congress took place in Pasadena, California last week. The Congress is a major event in the value investing community and featured many well known speakers including Paul Sonkin, Bruce Berkowitz, Mohnish Pabrai, Tom Russo, Whitney Tilson, and ...
Munger Comments on Potential for Wesco to Become Wholly Owned by Berkshire
Wesco Financial Corporation held its 2010 annual meeting in Pasadena, California on May 5. Wesco Financial is a 80.1 percent owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. While the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting attracted approximately 37,000 attendees on May 1, the Wesco ...
Munger: Lehman’s Behavior Represented Worst of Wall Street
Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger rarely gives interviews, and when he does investors are wise to listen carefully.  In the following CNBC interview with Becky Quick, Mr. Munger provides his general views regarding investment banking and says that Richard ...
Buffett Beyond Value: Why Warren Buffett Looks to Growth and Management When Investing
In a crowded field full of books dedicated to learning and profiting from the lessons taught by Warren Buffett, Georgetown University Professor Prem C. Jain’s Buffett Beyond Value has made an important and timely contribution. Warren Buffett’s investment style has ...
Wesco’s CORT and Precision Steel Units Were “Hammered” in 2009
Charlie Munger's annual letter to shareholders of Wesco Financial Corporation was published last week. Wesco Financial is a publicly traded company that is 80 percent owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Charlie Munger is Berkshire Hathaway’s longtime Vice Chairman and also serves ...
A Closer Look at Berkshire’s Executive Compensation Policy
Berkshire Hathaway's 2010 Proxy Statement was released yesterday and much attention has been devoted to the low compensation provided to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Mr. Buffett's total compensation remained at $175,000 which included $100,000 of salary and $75,000 in ...
Berkshire’s Investment in BYD: A Bet on Wang Chuan-Fu
Berkshire Hathaway's investment in BYD made its first appearance in Warren Buffett's annual letter which provides a table listing common stock investments with a market value of more than $1 billion. As of December 31, 2009, Berkshire held 225 million ...
Highlights from Warren Buffett’s 2009 Letter to Shareholders
Warren Buffett released his annual letter to shareholders this morning along with Berkshire Hathaway's 2009 annual report. Our full package of analysis on Berkshire Hathaway will be available soon as part the Berkshire Hathaway 2010 Briefing Book. For now, this ...
Volcker Rule Faces Resistance in Senate
It appears that the Volcker Rule is meeting a quick demise in the United States Senate only one month after it was initially proposed. the Volcker Rule is designed to limit the proprietary trading activities of commercial banks. A common ...
Charlie Munger’s Latest Parable: Basically, It’s Over
Those who have followed the career of Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger know that he has a long history of using parables to educate the public regarding business, economic, and political issues. By far, the best compilation of Mr ...
From Cigar Butts to Business Supermodels
There are numerous books and publications that provide detailed accounts of the history of Berkshire Hathaway as well as Warren Buffett’s life and career. It is also impossible to fully understand Berkshire without studying the life and career of Vice ...
BYD Showcases Electric Car But Hedges on Price and Timing
In a statement that could be cause for some concern, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu appears to be hedging on the pricing and distribution of the company's flagship e6 electric vehicle within the United States market. The Wall Street Journal has ...