The interview with Buffett with Becky, is as always illuminating as any interview of his:
Buffett never fails to amaze me with his understanding of business, of brilliant and simple clarity to complex situations, and of extreme objectivity and honesty with oneself.
For instance, he always has all the numbers on his mind, on almost any business, so he can analyze them on the spot, like he does say on his investment in Kraft Heinz, or his capex on BNSF, or float with GEICO, or compensation to his new Vice Chairmen Ajit and Greg, or America’s balance sheet and deficit, or new household formation in the US or the history of interest rates in the US… no other CEO comes even remotely close.
I was also struck by his honesty on Kraft Heinz, he says he overpaid for Kraft (in the news for recent writedowns) and he made a mistake that has cost shareholders billions. He also (though not reported widely) said he bought Oracle, then he had some doubts about his understanding and he immediately sold it. Avery very rare Buffett mistake, but he admitted to it.
Finally, something that resonated with me very well, he said keep politics and investing separate and don’t bring politics into investing. In our current milieu I think it has great lessons for us.
There were many tidbits for me in the way he thinks about businesses and about investing.