I would appreciate if you pointed me to a reference to this quote.
If this is real, I am very surprised. Is Munger saying that WSC, which is one the best-performing companies of all time, should be valued at lower than 1.3 x book (which is what $438 is)? Of course, half of this book value is cash, but still... this implies very low expectation for his own company?
Overall, thinking more, I am very surprised about how WSC is run. Buffett always complains that BRK is too big, so he needs to do huge deals. Why doesn't he do small deals through WSC then? If WSC did some great small deals, it could have grown much faster - and given a nice boost to its parent BRK. And if he does not do small deals through WSC, then why is it independent? It makes very little sense... except perhaps as Munger's sandbox. But then why Munger does not do more? Is he given total laissez faire from Buffett, but does not see any great opportunities? This is probably the case, but it is still weird, since Buffett told more than once that he could get great returns with smaller amount of money. Now Munger HAS smaller amount, so why he does not get great returns and is holding tons of cash? ;) |
