Warren Buffett isn’t always right – but he’s a $47 billion advertisement for optimism
The legendary investor Warren Buffett has taken more flak than seems necessary for his lapse of judgment over his former lieutenant David Sokol, who bought shares in a company called Lubrizol before recommending it to Buffett as an acquisition for the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate. Having been tipped as a potential successor if 80-year-old Buffett ever retires from running Berkshire, Sokol resigned abruptly in March. Buffett’s comment at the time, ‘Neither Dave nor I feel his Lubrizol purchases were in any way unlawful’, was widely regarded as inadequate. Belatedly, he introduced phrases such as ‘inexplicable and inexcusable’, but the incident provoked whispers that the great stock- picker, hitherto a pillar of Midwestern principle in contrast to the sharks of Wall Street, is losing his touch. And that dampened the usually fun-filled Berkshire shareholders’ meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, last week.
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