Warren Buffet ridiculed Yahoo in Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting last May.
He said if he were teaching a class and anyone said there was value in Internet stocks he'd flunk them. He also if I remember correctly was told that Yahoo didn't recommend Berkshire, "we don't recommend Yahoo either," he said.
Of course Buffett likes quantifiable value.
However, he praises Microsoft, and Intel or at least Gates and Grove and probably IMO would praise the creators of Yahoo as well, but he has a rule that if he can't predict or anticipate accurately what a company's business will be like 10,15, or 20 years out then he concludes that he does not understand the business well enough to buy it. He adheres to this discipline.
But from my brief (30 second) personal chat with the man and from other observations, I'd say he has a pirate's and a gambler's heart and if he were 20 years younger and managing a much smaller amount of money, he'd buy Yahoo and for two reasons:
--its management is very smart
--it now has an international franchise or brand name like Coca Cola and like the soft drink company has devoted followers who need it every day.
I own only three stocks, Berkshire Hathaway Class B, Dell Computer, and YAHOO.
Hope this helps. Comments, anyone? |
