Warren Buffett may have learned a few things from one Hetty Green. According to Kirkus Reviews’ report on “The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age” by Janet Wallach (Talese/Doubleday, $27.95), Green was rejected by her parents but learned business from her grandfather. By 1916, she had accumulated a $100 million fortune — and in those days, $1 million dollars was real money.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Q2 profit beats estimates (IndiaTimes)
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway posted second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates on gains at insurance units, manufacturing operations, the energy company and railroad Burlington Northern Santa. Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, were $2,252 a share, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said in a statement. That compares with the $1,777 average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Warren Buffett’s firm reports 9 pct decline in 2Q profit on higher paper losses on derivatives (WashingtonPost)
Second-quarter profits at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. fell 9 percent because of bigger paper losses on derivatives the company sold, but many of its subsidiaries performed well. Berkshire said Friday that it generated $3.1 billion net income, or $1.25 per Class B share. That’s down from last year’s second quarter net income of $3.4 billion, or $1.38 per Class B share. And last year’s quarter was helped by a one-time $1.25 billion gain.
Why Chesapeake’s Shares Could Double With Natural Gas By Winter (SeekingAlpha)
Everyone knows that it is best to buy assets when they are unloved and cheap. The problem is that few investors want to buy a depressed asset when no one else seems to want it. However, investors like Warren Buffett and Wilbur Ross have made huge fortunes and both are now billionaires because they have bought what’s cheap, and not what’s popular. You don’t see these brilliant investors buying the latest hyped-up IPO, but rather value-oriented assets.
Chinese probe clears electric battery in deadly accident -BYD (Reuters)
China’s government has cleared the electric battery involved in a deadly accident involving one of BYD Co Ltd’s electric vehicles that caught fire, the Chinese automaker said on Friday. …There had been speculation that the electric car’s lithium-ion phosphate battery may have been to blame, but the Chinese battery and automaker, which is backed by U.S. investor Warren Buffett, said on Friday that the Nissan Motor Co Ltd vehicle’s high speed and the resulting collision were to blame instead. BYD cited a probe conducted by Chinese government officials.
Facebook Vs. LinkedIn: Buy The Bargain, Sell The Bubble (SeekingAlpha)
In the stock market, the name of the game is to buy low and sell high. But usually, investors do just the opposite. They buy high and try to sell higher by jumping on the momentum train. Eventually, the momentum buyers end up trying to “off” their shares to a set of greater fools, before the bottom falls out- a very risky game for sure. Warren Buffett says buy stocks when they are unpopular and sell them when they are popular. It makes perfect sense, because how else are you supposed to buy low and sell high? Stocks are cheap when they are unpopular and expensive when in demand. There is no doubt that Facebook (FB) is an unpopular stock, it is more than 50% down from its high and doomsday talk is consuming it.
