Hi Warren,
You probably don't know me even if I'm a celibrity here, in Canada. My name is Penetrator. It's not my real name. It's from a porno movie.
I know a bit about you, because you're rich and obsessed about money. It seems that all your life was devoted to making more money instead of enjoying travels or wonders of the world (like that time where you visited the Great Wall of China and didn't give a shit about it).
Even if I despise a bit your lack of perspective about the world, I have to admit that making many billion dollars in a lifetime deserves some respect. And being 89 years old deserves also some respect.
But, even if you're an old billionaire, I have to admit that, when I saw that you bought some air carriers, I asked myself why the fuck did you do that. Were you senile? Were you losing grip on reality? Was it a "end-of-life-crisis"? How the fuck a rational man would chose to invest in one of the toughest sectors of the economy?
I don't know. But the positions were small (Delta Airlines: 1,7% of the portfolio, Southwest Airlines: 1,2% and some others under 1%). I said to myself that it was perhaps a calculated bet.
But yesterday, you said that these investments were mistakes. You sold them all.
I said to myself : "That's what happens when you own too much money". You don't know what to do with it, so you try new things.
Come on Buffett, you're now almost 90 and you should aim to die at the top of the game, not with rookie mistakes. Many people say you're the greatest investor alive but you chosed to own bigger stakes in two airlines than your stakes in Mastercard, Visa, Costco and Amazon (all these four being stakes under 1% of the portfolio)? I don't know a fucking single good investor that would bet more money on an airline than on one of these four stocks. What the fuck did you do?
I respect you, old fucker. But I don't understand that move, and I don't understand why you own 130 billion dollars cash and do nothing with it. You could pay a dividend, buy back BRK shares, buy an entire company (like Couche-Tard or Ulta Beauty, two stocks not too expensive that fit right with your philosophy). But perhaps you'd like to pay no more than 8 times earnings for each of them, you crazy old stingy asshole.
Regards,
Penetrator
Mastercard,Visa and Amazon were purchased by the other guy who manages $10 billion, hence the small position.
RépondreSupprimerBuffett bought airlines because the industry consolidated and wasn't much else in terms of competition (oligopoly???). Even though he's made the point airlines have horrible economics aka price takers. Because there were less and less competitors the consumer had a few alternatives and the airlines were able to pass on the horrible economics to the consumer and make themselves profit machines. That's what attracted Buffett to get into airlines. Now, the whole industry has an existential threat and he changed his mind as the thesis has changed.
RépondreSupprimerHi, my name is Warren and I am Avioholic.
RépondreSupprimerYour letter is a work of art. Bravo, Pentrator!
RépondreSupprimer