I know Buffett seems to enjoy saying that we manage to the point of abdication but seriously?

Indeed. Remember that Mr Buffett won't buy a company without management in place. For any given subsidiary he succeeds with the abdication solely because there is a full time CEO in place who isn't at head office.

Fun corollary: Dispense with the endowment effect. By extension of the above reasoning, would Berkshire buy Geico today at a fair price if it were not already owned? The usual requirement for an acquisition is that there be management already in place that is deemed smart, hard working (read: full time) and trustworthy. As the witty saying goes, if you don't have the third one you don't actually want the first two...no applicability here, I just enjoy the quip.

Precis: yeah, Geico probably needs a good full time boss.

Jim

Berkshire Hathaway FAQ

---

Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.