“Berkshire would’ve been a lot bigger if we had used leverage, but we would be sweating at night.”
“And it’s crazy to sweat at night…(pause) over financial things.” 😂
- Charlie Munger. 2015
In 2010, Bill Ackman gave a 44-minute masterclass on how money actually works using a lemonade stand.
He talks about:
• How businesses create value
• Why most investors lose money
• How compounding really builds wealth
12 timeless lessons from Ackman's masterclass:
Warren Buffett on the Lehman Brothers 2008 bankruptcy is the most Buffett story ever:
- He was vacationing in Alberta
- Lehman contacted his assistant for help
- Buffett said “send me a fax and how much”
- The fax never came but they left him a voicemail (he only found it one year later because he didn’t really use his flip phone)
Buffett probably would have said “no” anyways because Lehman asked him for help 6 months earlier in March 2008.
At the time, he printed out Lehman’s previous year 200-page annual report, marked it up with a pen and realized it was a steaming pile of doo doo and passed.
***
Full vid from 2018 (10th anniversary of Lehman): https://t.co/xStyXP6yPc
Bill Ackman just wrote a letter to shareholders explaining why he owns each of his portfolio companies.
Here's his updated thesis for his top 10 positions: