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- Manlobbi
Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) ❤
No. of Recommendations: 18
I found this quite interesting from Mohnish Pabrai's Tweet:
'I had brunch with Greg Abel once. His capital allocation prowess and ability to crack business models is off the charts. As is his humility. Warren tolerated a lot of underperformers because he hates to fire people and because he bought businesses from them and likes them. Greg has a much shorter leash for the underperformers. They'll just leave on their own after a couple of sessions with him.'
Heard Bloomstran also comment that Greg is quite skilled at optimizing the efficiencies and productivity of our controlled non-insurance businesses. Glad he is the chosen one.
No. of Recommendations: 2
There is that old adage...if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I'm not suggesting doing nothing, but i believe part of WEB's appeal to sellers is he leaves you alone as long as profits are being made. Worked pretty well so far.
No. of Recommendations: 2
I was sort of thinking the same thing although I will say that Warren seemed like a pretty nonconfrontational kind of guy so maybe in the long run it will be a good and necessary thing.
Greg has already gone to work replacing the CEO and CFO (?) @ PIlot Flying J. Doubtful Warren would have done that, at least not right away. It would not surprise me in the least if a few more CEO's of some of the subsidiaries will be leaving "to spend more time with their family." There is a new sheriff in town!
No. of Recommendations: 3
...optimizing the efficiencies and productivity of our controlled non-insurance businesses.
I'm not concerned, per se, but I am watching through this lens:
a) taken in isolation, the italicized quote could describe any post-Welch CEO of a Fortune 500 company (which is to say, almost all of the current generation), with undue emphasis on quarterly results, targets and the like - and I suspect history will not be kind to Jack Welch.
b) Mohnish's comments, along with the concerns I expressed wrt Greg's comments at the last BRK annual meeting (generic corporatespeak) add to my, um, watchfulness. Greg will hopefully be great...I just hope he won't be New Coke (New Welch?)
c) again, as I've commented earlier: while Warren's capital allocation is of course superb/legendary, he's been a less than perfect judge of character in the past. Just for that reason, right out of the gates I'm more comfortable with an acquired business (Flying J) than with any new face at the table.
I'm not doing a durn thing about it but watching, however. My current overallocation to Berkshire will remain unchanged.
--sutton
No. of Recommendations: 8
"again, as I've commented earlier: while Warren's capital allocation is of course superb/legendary, he's been a less than perfect judge of character in the past".
Given the 50+ years of business dealings, companies acquired, longevity of the CEO's staying aboard, the composition of board members, and office staff that make up the culture of Berkshire Hathaway, it is correct that he has been "less than perfect" but he has been a most spectacular judge of character nonetheless. For someone who built a business from the ground up, and experienced the shock of "how could he done that" too many times to count, I am in awe of his record.
jk
