Post #7770 by BreckHutHigh on the Berkshire Hathaway board

Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) ❤

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From the 2024 AM:

BECKY QUICK: Hey, Warren, he mentioned Oxy, which I think is a great example where you made the original decision basically on a weekend with some thought. But as [you learned] more about Oxy and the, the asset position, they had their ability to operate in an exceptional manner, and then a strong CEO around capital allocation. I think your confidence, which was reflected in continuing to acquire more shares, is sort of that type of process.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, it’s exactly to the point. I mean, I just learned more as I went along. I learned enough. You know, I’d never, I’d heard of Occidental Petroleum. Occidental Petroleum happens to [have] been a descendant, not a descendant, but it’s a continuation of Cities Service, which was the first stock I bought. And, of course, I knew a lot about the oil and gas business, but I didn’t know anything about geology, so I knew the economics of it. I had a lot of various things stored in my mind about the business, but I never heard of Vicki Hollub until, I guess, it was a Friday or Saturday, and we met on Sunday morning. We made a deal, but that was one sort of deal. And then as time passed, all [kinds] of different events happened. You know, Icahn came in. I mean, there are a million things you couldn’t predict at the start, and I formed certain opinions as I went along, but then, I learned more as I went along. And then at a point when I heard an investor call, it put things together for me in a way… It didn’t mean I knew I had a sure thing or anything like that. I don’t know what the price of oil was going to be next year, but I knew that it was something to act on. So we did, and we’re very happy we did, and we still don’t know what the price of oil is going to be next year.

I don’t know what [Vicki] does, but I think the odds are very good that it was, but not a cinch, that it was a good decision, and we’ve got options to buy more stock, and when we get through with it, it could be a worthwhile investment for Berkshire. We’re in it, and we’re in it for keeps. There are other things that we own that we aren’t in for keeps."

https://steadycompounding.com/investing/brk-2024/

He'd never heard of Occidental Petroleum? He doesn't know anything about geology? He doesn't know what Vicki does? Surely he jests.

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