Question

Which of the following hypothetical future acquisitions would best meet the Berkshire Hathaway acquisition criteria?

a. A social media startup which is projected to be break-even pretax earnings in 2 years

b. An auction for a tech company with new unproven technology financed with debt

c. An auto parts manufacturer with $200-$250 mln of pretax earnings per year over the last 10 years

d. Hostile takeover of a retail company with $500 mln of average pretax earnings over the last 5 years

What does Buffett mean by “a fat wallet is the enemy of superior investment returns”?

a. We will only do with your money what we would do with our own

b. We define risk as “the possibility of loss or injury”

c. Deploying large sums of money has diminishing investment opportunities and invites mistakes

d. As far as I’m concerned the stock market does not exist

Answer 1

1.
c. An auto parts manufacturer with $200-$250 mln of pretax earnings per year over the last 10 years

2.
c. Deploying large sums of money has diminishing investment opportunities and invites mistakes