Buffett Interview
 

A nice summary of his interview on Fox can be found here.

Interesting comments on Petrochina

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On PetroChina:

“We sold it [all stakes], but we sold it based on price [not politics]. At the time of the annual meeting it was around $100 and since then it has more than doubled so, unfortunately, I sold it a little too soon. It was a decision based 100% on valuation.”

“If it went down a lot I’d buy it back.”

“We made about $3.5bn on a $500m investment but we still sold it too soon. I left a lot of money on the table.”

On how he found PetroChina:

“I sit there in my office and read an annual report, which fortunately, was in English, and it described a very good company. It told about the oil reserves, the refineries and everything else and I sat there and read it and said to myself this company’s worth about $100bn. I don’t look at the price first. I look at the business first and try to figure out what it’s worth because if I look at the price first I’ll get influenced by that.”

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Re: Buffett Interview
 

I'm surprised he said "if it went down a lot I’d buy it back" because he's always been so hush hush about his position for obvious reasons.

Re: Buffett Interview
 

3.5 Billion dollars in a few years?

Ain't no thang.

Re: Buffett Interview
 

Man, I love buffett.

Re: Buffett Interview
 

"It told about the oil reserves, the refineries and everything else and I sat there and read it and said to myself this company’s worth about $100bn. I don’t look at the price first. I look at the business first and try to figure out what it’s worth because if I look at the price first I’ll get influenced by that.”

I love this quote and need to get it on the wall enxt to my computer.

Re: Buffett Interview
 

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I'm surprised he said "if it went down a lot I’d buy it back" because he's always been so hush hush about his position for obvious reasons.

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Petrochina activists have been trying to get him to sell for years, and it culminated in a vote at this years shareholder meeting, a vote Buffett authorized and the activists lost in a landslide. They also put a billboard in Omaha urging him to sell. They are now claiming responsibility for Buffett selling. This is his response to that, and his point about buying it back is to show the activists had no affect on his decision. I believe him, not only did he buy it when very cheap and is selling when it is more fully valued, but Buffett admits his mistakes. If he suddenly realised the activists were right he"d offer his support publicly.

His comment about not looking at the stock price before reading the report shows how aware he is of unconscious biases and strives to limit them. We all have them, and should do the same. A petrochina activist would say I am biased to believe Buffett because of my personal admiration for him, and they would be right that I am biased, but wrong in that I have rational reasons to believe him. When I was a boy I believed Nixon because of my bias, not because he had a great track record of honesty.

Re: Buffett Interview
 

http://www.savedarfur.org/newsroom/relea...ina_divestment/

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"Mr. Buffett attributed his complete divestment of PetroChina holdings to reasons ‘based on price,'" said Allyn Brooks-LaSure, coalition spokesman. "The Save Darfur Coalition hopes that ‘based on price' is financial jargon for ‘ominous links to genocide and tragic crimes against humanity.' If so, we applaud Mr. Buffett's actions and encourage other U.S. firms with significant PetroChina holdings to divest their shares ‘based on price,' too."

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HAHAHAHAHA

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Buffett Interview
 

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On how much money he spent buying stocks yesterday:

A little over $200m. About four different companies.


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I found this odd. I didn't think he was an active trader and instead put substantial amounts of money into just a few projects.

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It's impossible to buy a billion dollars of any stock in a day without affecting price. His portfolio is so large it probably takes months for him to build a position. Occasionally he's given opportunities to buy a large block from a big shareholder, but otherwise he's probably stuck just going bit by bit in the market.

Re: Buffett Interview
 

Thanks for posting this. Great info!