THE world’s most famous investors are using the depressed markets to build up sizable stakes in US blue chips, which have been undervalued due to negative sentiment about the global economy. Warren Buffett and George Soros are two of the oldest, richest and most savvy investors on Wall Street. Now The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch.com has tracked recent purchases by the pair.
David Moon: Real legacies are the lives you touch, not money (KnoxNews)
In the late 1990s, Warren Buffett began a series of meetings with college students, offering them the opportunity to ask him almost anything. He continues the meetings today. A small group of University of Tennessee finance students was among the first, if not the original, beneficiaries of these valuable mentoring sessions. How valuable is a visit with Buffett? In June an anonymous bidder paid $3.4 million for the right to have lunch with the Oracle of Omaha. The beneficiary of the auction was Glide, a San Francisco anti-poverty organization. These Buffett lunches have raised more than $11 million for Glide.
Self-proclaimed ‘Chinese Warren Buffett’ confident as fraud trial starts (TheGlobeAndMail)
Toronto businessman Weizhen Tang, who describes himself as the “Chinese Warren Buffett”, struck a defiant tone Monday as his fraud trial began in a Toronto court. “I did nothing wrong,” Mr. Tang told reporters during a break Monday. “I feel very confident.” He added that he had committed “anti-fraud” by giving money to investors “not taking it away”. Mr. Tang is accused of allegedly using his Toronto-based investment fund, Oversea Chinese Fund, as a “ponzi” scheme after $30-million went missing in 2009.
Copy Warren Buffett’s Latest Move (Trefis)
Warren Buffett has a history of getting things right. And he just made another prescient decision by picking up shares of National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV). Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) added 2.8 million shares of the drilling equipment company in the second quarter. If you’re not familiar, National Oilwell is an oil services company that often gets overshadowed by the likes of Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) and Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI).
Borsheims CEO has a way about her (Omaha)
Susan Jacques’ 30-year career at Borsheims Fine Jewelry, celebrated with a surprise party at the Omaha store Friday, took a turn upward in 1994. …Warren Buffett, who had bought the Omaha jewelry store for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 1989, called Jacques after Yale announced his departure and asked her to come to his office that afternoon. “I realized that I wasn’t wearing one of my favorite suits, and, you know, I wanted to look very professional if I was going to have a meeting with Warren,” Jacques once told author Robert Miles.
Buffett’s Track Record Spotty On Bonds (SeekingAlpha)
Is Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), a smart bond investor? Buffet recently sold off much of his exposure to the municipal bond market. If he has a good track record for predicting broad bond market moves, you might be tempted to follow his example and sell municipal bonds. However, our research shows that investors who sell municipal bonds based on Buffett’s move would be making a mistake. Here’s why: Buffet first expressed his negativity towards municipal bonds in a 2008 letter to shareholders. His annual letters to shareholders are legendary for their directness and market insight.
$126 Million Insider Buy at Sears (SHLD, WMT, TGT) (SmallCapNetwork)
The financial results do not show it, but billionaire investor and chairman of the company, Eddie Lampert, sure thinks that Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) is a great buy. While legendary investor Warren Buffett has been loading up Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), a director competitor to Sears, Lampert just bought 2,399,824 shares. Lampert is the biggest shareholder of Sears Holdings. Like Warren Buffett, Eddie Lampert is also an uber investor. It is difficult to see why the shares of Sears are so attractive. Competition against Wal-Mart and Target (NYSE: TGT) has been very hard on the performance of the company.
China’s jet set grounded by lack of pilots, paperwork (Reuters)
Bombardier Inc, the world’s No. 3 aircraft maker, thinks Chinese executive jet buyers will take delivery of 2,400 new planes in the next 20 years. All China needs now is pilots to fly them, mechanics to fix them, and airports to land them. …The private jet potential has caught the attention of some big-name investors. Warren Buffett’s NetJets made the world’s largest order of executive jets in June in a deal worth $9.6 billion, months after it announced a China venture with private equity firm Hony Capital.
What Insurance Ads Can Teach Us about Online Marketing (Business2Community)
One of the most ubiquitous and successful marketing campaigns of the past generation has been the GEICO insurance company’s relentless advertising in print, radio, and television. The gecko, the cavemen, the “I’ve got good news” jokes, the stack of money with googly eyes, the sponsored NASCAR race team… So what accounts for this seemingly mad quest to take over the nation’s airwaves? GEICO got its start in 1936 as a private company providing insurance to government employees only (a smaller and more stable risk pool), but in 1974 it expanded to cover any members of the general public. This initially led to overexpansion, chaos, financial losses, and restructuring. Finally, in 1996 GEICO was purchased by Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm owned by Warren Buffett. Though the company now spends approximately a billion dollars a year on advertising, Buffett says he would spend two billion if he could.
