39岁，所管基金主要是投资于金融服务公司的股权。但巴菲特表示，多德·库姆斯是符合公司文化的100%完美人选。
巴菲特当时还表示，他暂时仍会保留首席投资官的位置，多德·库姆斯将掌管一个规模让他“可以接受”的投资组合，投资组合的规模会逐渐扩大，直到几个月之后库姆斯有机会“全部投入”。
伯克希尔的接班计划是美国商界最受关注的事件之一。巴菲特一直说，他和公司董事会计划将其在伯克希尔的责任分派给数人。不过一些跟踪伯克希尔股
票的分析师近几周表示，新人何时加入以及会有多少人加入，一直悬而未决，因此这会拖累伯克希尔的股价。一些投资者称，当前是伯克希尔股票在约为30年来被
最为低估的时候。
巴菲特13日表示，这是很久之前就制定好的一项计划的一部分，“我们已经制定了完美的接班计划，我感觉好极了。10年之后再给我打电话，到那时候我就91岁了。”此外，巴菲特还表示，他的儿子霍华德·巴菲特可能会担任伯克希尔的非执行董事长。
接班人业绩不菲
巴菲特表示，今后泰德·韦施勒和多德·库姆斯都会逐渐获得伯克希尔越来越多的资金用以投资，并在股票选择上不受任何限制。巴菲特说，他们一直在
寻找低估值股票，并且公司会给其规模相同的一片天地来施展才华。根据计划，泰德·韦施勒将管理伯克希尔660亿美元权益类证券中10亿到30亿美元的资产
组合。
泰德·韦施勒此前任职于半岛资本顾问公司，该公司是一家总部位于弗吉尼亚的对冲基金，管理资产规模达20亿美元。泰德·韦施勒是伯克希尔保险公司计划聘请的三位经理中的第二位。
据海外媒体报道说，泰德·韦施勒曾在2010年赢得巴菲特年度慈善拍卖，巴菲特是那时注意到他的。据投资者称，这位来自弗吉尼亚州的基金经理在过去11年的总投资回报率为1236%，同期伯克希尔B类股的股价上涨了84%，标准普尔500指数下跌将近23%。
此外，根据申报文件，截至今年6月30日，泰德·韦施勒的半岛资本顾问公司持有约20亿美元的股票多头仓位。
海外媒体报道称，伯克希尔将会为他们支付基本薪资外加绩效奖金，奖金多寡将会和他们击败标准普尔500指数的程度挂钩。不过，他们的收入会按照普通收入的税率缴税，而非按照对冲基金资本收益15%的税率来缴税。
上个月末，伯克希尔公司宣布向美国银行投资50亿美元，巴菲特以他在金融危机期间支持高盛和通用电气时的同样方式来支持这家美国的银行巨头。受此消息提振，美银股价当时一度大涨近26%。
而对于伯克希尔来说，这是一宗不错的交易。有分析师认为，伯克希尔将获得认股权证，有权按照略高于每股7.14美元的价格认购7亿股美银的普通股，行权时间为罕见的10年。分析认为，认股权证是这笔交易最划算的部分。
路透中国：巴菲特选中名气不大的Weschler进入接班人队伍
2011年 9月 13日 星期二 09:11 BJT
路透纽约/波士顿9月12日电---投资大亨巴菲特选择接班人的计划周一又推进了一步,任命Ted
Weschler帮助管理伯克希尔哈撒韦(Berkshire Hathaway)(BRKa.N:
行情)的投资.Weschler是一位低调的对冲基金经理,他在过去10年中投资业绩优异.
今年50岁的Weschler将从明年初开始在伯克希尔公司工作,与去年加盟的Todd
Combs共同管理公司股票投资组合.81岁的巴菲特已经表示,他还将聘请第三位经理人,但同时该公司523.6亿美元美国股票投资中,将有很大一部分继续由巴菲特管理.
Weschler与之前来到公司的Combs一样,虽然赢得了这份工作,但仍保持着低调.
据投资者称,这位来自弗吉尼亚州Charlottesville的基金经理在过去11年的总投资回报率为1,236%.同期伯克希尔B类股(BRKb.N:
行情)的股价上涨了84%,标准普尔500指数.SPX下跌将近23%.
根据申报文件,截至6月30日,他的Peninsula Capital
Advisors持有约20亿美元的股票多头仓位.Combs在被雇佣时管理的资金规模约为4亿美元.
从聘请Combs时起,巴菲特就明确表示,会有人继续加盟投资团队,并最终取代他.不过一些跟踪伯克希尔股票的分析师近几周表示,新人何时加入,以及会有多少人加入,都一直悬而未决,因此拖累伯克希尔的股价.一些投资者称,当前是伯克希尔股票约30年来低估程度最严重的时候.(完)
--编译 郑茵;审校 张明钧
巴菲特伯克希尔公司官方声明
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC.
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 12, 2011
Berkshire Hathaway to Add Second Investment Manager
Omaha, NE (NYSE: BRK.A; BRK.B)—In 2007 Berkshire Hathaway began a
search to add as many as three investment professionals to manage a
portion of the equity portfolios of Berkshire’s insurance
subsidiaries. The search was intensified when Lou Simpson, who had
long been responsible for GEICO’s equity portfolio, elected to
retire in 2010.
The first to join Berkshire was Todd Combs, who came to the company
in 2010. Todd has proved to be an outstanding choice.
Today Ted Weschler, 50, of Charlottesville, Virginia, has announced
to his limited partners that
he will be winding up his fund in order to join Berkshire early in
2012.
These two investment managers will each have responsibility for a
segment of Berkshire’s present equity holdings. Warren Buffett,
Berkshire’s Chairman, will continue, however, to manage most of the
funds until his retirement.
After Mr. Buffett no longer serves as CEO, Todd and Ted – possibly
aided by one additional
manager – will have responsibility for the entire equity and debt
portfolio of Berkshire, subject to overall direction by the
then-CEO and Board of Directors. With Todd and Ted on board,
Berkshire is well-positioned for successor investment management at
the time Mr. Buffett is no
longer CEO.
Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries engage in diverse business
activities including property
and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy,
freight rail transportation, finance, manufacturing, retailing and
services. Common stock of the company is listed on the New York
Stock Exchange, trading symbols BRK.A and BRK.B.
— END—
Contact
Marc D. Hamburg
402-346-1400
Berkshire's New Hire Bears Shades of Buffett
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904265504576566933743013152.html
The second investment manager
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has tapped as an heir apparent to
Warren
Buffett is a straight-shooter who, like the billionaire
investor, brings along a philanthropic bent and a fondness for
basic businesses.
Richard
'Ted' Weschler, who on Monday was hired to manage a slice of
Berkshire's vast investment portfolio, runs his $2 billion
Peninsula Capital Advisors out of a small office that he shares
with a receptionist and one analyst in a pedestrian mall in
downtown Charlottesville, Va., upstairs from the New Dominion
Bookshop.
There, Mr. Weschler takes a 'total immersion' approach to analyzing
companies, 'educating himself on every available bit of public
information and then digging in much deeper with management and
people throughout the industry,' according to Jimmy Wheat, who says
he was one of the original investors in the Peninsula fund.
Mr. Wheat, a former partner at buyout firm Riverfront Partners who
now is a private investor in Richmond, Va., adds: 'There's very
little emotion in his investment decisions, and I don't think
you'll see working for Warren Buffett going to his head,
either.'
Mr. Weschler has so carefully cultivated a low profile that many
professional investors and hedge-fund consultants had never heard
of him until this week. He also shares Mr. Buffett's preference for
simple businesses. In 2001, when he was a senior executive at the
Charlottesville private investment firm Quad-C, Mr. Weschler pushed
for a buyout of Huddle House, a chain of family restaurants in the
southeastern U.S. Alongside Riverfront Partners, Quad-C paid about
$40 million for Huddle House. The two firms sold Huddle House in
2006 for roughly $110 million, recalls Mr. Wheat.
Mr. Weschler's fund, which launched in January 2000 near the peak
of the Internet bubble, held positions in nine stocks as of June
30, according to CapitalIQ, a financial-data provider. Peninsula's
largest disclosed position was a stake in
DirecTV Group Inc. The firm also had hioldings in Liberty Media
Corp., coupon company
Valassis Communications Inc.,
Cincinnati Bell Inc.,
FiberTower Corp.,
Cogent Communications Inc. and dialysis provider
DaVita Inc.
Robert Johnson, senior managing director at the CFA Institute in
Charlottesville, knows Mr. Weschler through a local running group.
'When you meet Ted, you just know right away that he's a straight
shooter and you can trust him,' Mr. Johnson says. 'Ted's also
incredibly hard-working, and the hours that he puts in are above
and beyond—14 hours might be kind of a light work day. Being able
to train for a marathon while working those hours shows his
discipline. I think that kind of dedication and perseverance
carries over to other areas of his life.' According to the Boston
Marathon website, Richard T. Weschler ran that race three times,
most recently in 2009; Mr. Weschler's best finish was 8,982nd out
of 20,348 in 2009.
'I've never known anybody in business who has as high ethical
standards as Ted Weschler,' says Mr. Wheat, the private investor.
'Regardless of how legal something may be, he always gives it what
he calls 'the gut check'.'
Unlike many investors, whose experience is limited to analyzing
stocks on paper, Mr. Weschler has also helped operate businesses.
Originally from Erie, Pa., Mr. Weschler formerly worked as the
assistant to Peter Grace, the notoriously tough chief executive of
W.R. Grace & Co. who died in 1995. Attracted by the
conglomerate's rich assets after it filed for bankruptcy protection
2001, Mr. Weschler's fund bought more than 5% of W.R. Grace's stock
at an average cost of around $2 a share, according to SEC filings
and Mr. Wheat. It closed on Monday at $34.29 a share.
Mr. Weschler has told his fund's limited partners, says one
investor who spoke with him Monday, that the fund's the majority of
the fund's assets will be distributed pro-rata to partners by
year's end. A few smaller or less-liquid holdings may be sold.
People familiar with the matter estimate that Mr. Weschler holds
30% to 40% of the fund's assets and say that he has consistently
reinvested most of his gains.
In a recent letter to investors, says a partner in the fund, Mr.
Weschler credited Mr. Buffett for inspiring much of his own
investment success.
Another interest Messrs. Buffett and Weschler share is
philanthropy. Mr. Weschler and his wife, Sheila, have donated to
several local Charlottesville charities, including the Building
Goodness Foundation. The group is focused on the construction of
community buildings, such as emergency shelters in disaster areas
or community centers in parts of the developing world, says Allison
Scholl, the foundation's director of resource development.
The Weschlers donated last year to the construction of a trade
school in Haiti, Ms. Scholl says, and building at the site will
take off this December. They've been long-term donors to the
foundation. 'They've been wonderfully supportive,' Ms. Scholl
said.
Messrs. Buffett and Weschler are both donors to Planned Parenthood.
Mr. and Mrs. Weschler made a $45,000 gift to Planned Parenthood,
according to the group's 2010 annual report, with $25,000 dedicated
to public policy initiatives and $20,000 for affiliate-wide
support.
Over the past two years, Mr. Weschler paid nearly $5 million for
two meals with Mr. Buffett as part of a charity auction. Aside from
those meals with Mr. Buffett, Mr. Weschler often dines with
representatives of the nonprofits he donates to. Last week, he
lunched with Dan Rosensweig, an executive director for Habitat for
Humanity of Greater Charlottesville.
'We were focused on Habitat the whole time,' Mr. Rosensweig says of
Mr. Weschler, who has been a donor for years. 'He was asking
questions about what we were doing and what he could do to help.
I've never had a conversation with anyone about our business model
and have it grasped so quickly as when I was talking to him.'
The Weschlers also contributed to Children, Youth & Family
Services, a locally based nonprofit group that addresses poverty,
abuse, child-care quality and adolescent runaways. The couple has
made numerous annual gifts to the group and last year made a gift
toward the nonprofit's capital campaign to purchase a new
building.
At the end of 2009, Mr. Weschler and another individual spearheaded
a campaign aimed at getting younger donors to give for the Martha
Jefferson Hospital Foundation, says Ray Mishler, a vice president
with group. Mr. Weschler helped match contributions to the drive
and corralled younger donors, Mr. Mishler says. The effort raised
$2.5 million toward the $52 million campaign.
'If you look around this community, their fingerprints are all over
lots of organizations,' Mr. Mishler says. 'They're as genuine as
they are generous.'
In recent years, Mr. Weschler has made several donations to
Republicans and Democrats, according to OpenSecrets.org, a site
that tracks political contributions.
In 2010, Mr. Weschler gave $10,000 each to the Democratic Party of
Virginia and the Republican State Committee of Delaware, according
to OpenSecrets. In 2009, he gave to Michael Castle, a former
Republican governor of Delaware and former member of the U.S. House
of Representatives, according to the site. That same year, he gave
to Robert Wittman, a Republican representative for Virginia's 1st
congressional district and Tom Perriello, a former Democratic
representative of Virgina's 5th congressional district, according
to the site.
$5.3M Dinners With Warren Buffett Lead to Dream Job for Money
Manager
Published:
Monday, 12 Sep 2011 | 9:02 AM ET
Text Size 
By: Alex
Crippen
Executive
Producer
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44484806
 |
Photo: Janis Jaquith
Ted Weschler (center) appears here in a small section of a
photo showing members of a running team from Charlottesville who
participated in the 2009 Boston Marathon. Weschler finished
with a very respectable time of 3:53. Photo used with
permission of the photographer.
|
A portfolio manager who paid a total of $5.3 million for two meals
with Warren Buffett has just been hired to help pick stocks at
Berkshire Hathaway. In a
news release this morning,
Buffett's company says 50-year-old Ted Weschler of Charlottesville,
Va., will join Berkshire early next year.
He is currently
managing partner at the
hedge fund
![[cnbc explains]](http://media.cnbc.com/i/CNBC/Sections/News_And_Analysis/_News/_CNBC_EXPLAINS/_IMAGES/CNBC_explains_icon1.gif "巴菲特选中名气不大的Weschler进入投资接班人队伍")
he started in 2000,
Peninsula Capital Advisors.
Weschler joins
2010 Berkshire addition Todd
Combs as a portfolio manager.
And in an unusual twist,
Fortune's Carol Loomis
reveals this morning that Weschler met
his new employer by winning Buffett's annual charity 'Power Lunch'
auction for the past two years.
(Proceeds go to San
Francisco's
Glide
Foundation.)
Until today, the name of the winning bidder for 2010 and 2011 had
been kept confidential.
Weschler paid
$2,626,311 last year, and then
won again this year with a
slightly higher $2,626,411 bid.
He could have gotten the lunch for less, but he wanted to
top his own record bid the year before.
Loomis reports that instead of lunch at New York's Smith &
Wollensky steakhouse, the auction's regular venue, Weschler and
Buffett actually had dinner both years at Buffett's favorite Omaha
steakhouse, Piccolo Pete's.
According to Loomis, the 'two men liked each other right away' and
Buffett invited his guest to come to Berkshire's annual meeting
this spring.
Loomis writes: 'At a large private dinner on the night of the
meeting, (Weschler) introduced himself to this reporter, made an
impression as smart and friendly, and described himself as having a
great time.'
At first, Buffett wasn't sure Weschler wanted the job. He tells
Fortune:
'I very much wanted him to do it, but I didn't expect
to get very far with the idea. Ted will no doubt make a lot
of money at Berkshire. But he was already making a lot of
money with his fund—you can get an idea of that from the size of
his Glide bids—so money wasn't a reason for him to
come.'
After Buffett 'almost apologetically' sounded out Weschler over
dinner this July, he took a few weeks to think it over and then
accepted the offer.
The new guy isn't talking now about why he took the job, but Loomis
says she 'can speculate that Weschler's long-time admiration for
Buffett made this an offer he just couldn't refuse.'
Like Combs, Weschler will be
handling about $1 billion to $3 billion of Berkshire's money, while
Buffett will continue to 'manage most of the funds until his
retirement,' according to the news release.
It goes on to say:
'After Mr. Buffett no longer serves as CEO, Todd and
Ted—possibly aided by one additional manager—will have
responsibility for the entire equity and debt portfolio of
Berkshire, subject to overall direction by the then-CEO and board
of directors. With Todd and Ted on board, Berkshire is
well-positioned for successor investment management at the time Mr.
Buffett is no longer CEO.'
Weschler is like Buffett in that he prefers to buy just a few
stocks and hold them for long periods of time, although the new
hire probably won't be able to
short stocks
and borrow money to
boost his investing capital, as he has at Peninsula.
According to Peninsula's latest 13F filing in July, the hedge fund
held almost $2 billion worth of publicly traded U.S. stocks as of
June 30.
Aside from two clunkers (most notably
FiberTower) and one moderate loser, the
stocks have been winners over the past year with big gains from
Cogent Communications,
Liberty
Media, and
WR Grace.
Ted Weschler's
Holdings at Peninsula Capital Advisors
|
| Stock |
Symbol |
Shares Held |
Market Value |
1-Yr Price Chg. |
| DirecTV |
DTV |
10,000,000 |
$508,200,000 |
+2.1% |
| WR Grace |
GRA |
10,765,600 |
$491,234,000 |
+25.7% |
| Davita |
DVA |
4,300,000 |
$372,423,000 |
+8.2% |
| Liberty Media (Capital) |
LCAPA |
2,700,000 |
$231,525,000 |
+35.3% |
| Valassis Communications |
VCI |
5,000,000 |
$151,500,000 |
-37.5% |
| Cogent Communications |
CCOI |
4,000,000 |
$68,040,000 |
+43.3% |
| Cincinnati Bell |
CBB |
19,800,000 |
$65,736,000 |
+13.8% |
| WSFS Financial |
WSFS |
1,500,000 |
$59,475,000 |
-7.9% |
| FiberTower |
FTWR |
6,830,000 |
$8,196,000 |
-74.8% |
| TOTAL |
|
|
$1,956,329,000 |
|
Source: Peninsula Capital Advisors Q2 2001 13F Filing with SEC.
One-year price changes as of September 12, 2011 from
CNBC.com
|
Liberty
Media (Capital) is a tracking stock that
includes the company's interests in the Atlanta Braves baseball
team, TruePosition, and SiriusXM.
According to
Fortune, anyone investing in Peninsula in
early 2000 had a total gain of 1,236 percent as of the end of this
year's first quarter, dwarfing Berkshire B shares' gain of 146
percent.
Current Berkshire stock prices:
Class B: [BRK.B
69.24 
1.47
(+2.17%) 
]
Class A: [BRK.A
103800.00
1528.00
(+1.49%) ]
DirecTV: [DTV
41.51
0.085
(+0.21%) ]
WR Grace: [GRA
34.29 
-1.21
(-3.41%) ]
Davita: [DVA
71.78
0.42
(+0.59%) ]
Liberty Media (Capital): [LCAPA
65.76
-0.85
(-1.28%) ]
Valassis Communications: [VCI
21.50
0.09
(+0.42%) ]
Cogent Communications: [CCOI
12.54
-0.14
(-1.1%) ]
Cincinnati Bell: [CBB
3.01
0.01
(+0.33%) ]
WSFS Financial: [WSFS
33.86
0.56
(+1.68%) ]
FiberTower: [FTWR
1.04
0.082
(+8.56%) ]
For more Buffett Watch updates follow alexcrippen on
Twitter.
Email comments to buffettwatch@cnbc.com
© 2011 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved
![巴菲特选中名气不大的Weschler进入投资接班人队伍]( "巴菲特选中名气不大的Weschler进入投资接班人队伍")
Topics:Warren
Buffett
Companies:Berkshire
Hathaway Inc.
Meet Ted Weschler: Buffett auction winner, Berkshire's new
hire
t
September 12, 2011: 8:35 AM ET
The newest addition to the Berkshire Hathaway investing team
came to Warren Buffett's attention in a surprising way.
By
Carol J. Loomis,
senior editor-at-large
Ted Weschler,
center
FORTUNE -- It is surely unprecedented for a person to spend
$5,252,722 to get a job, but in a funny way, that is precisely what
Ted Weschler, of Charlottesville, Virginia, did. The details, in
all their improbability:
Warren Buffett announced this morning that Weschler, 50, the highly
successful managing partner of hedge fund Peninsula Capital
Advisors, will soon join Berkshire Hathaway to run a portion of its
investments. That move, added to the
hiring of Todd Combs last year, is aimed at preparing
investment-rich Berkshire for a day when Buffett, who just turned
81, will no longer be running the company's investments.
And how did Buffett get to know Weschler? It's here that fact
becomes stranger than fiction.
Every year, Glide, a San Francisco church and mission, is the
beneficiary of an auction in which the prize for the top bidder is
a private lunch with Buffett.
In the first year of the lunch, 2000, the winner donated $25,000 to
Glide. The auction price then proceeded to skyrocket, and in 2010,
an anonymous bidder won with an amazing $2,626,311 bid.
Then, this year, a bidder also wishing to be anonymous won by
upping that bid by $100, to $2,626,411.
So here, in a state of affairs being disclosed publicly for the
first time, is the fact: Weschler was the winning bidder in both
years.
In neither year, since he was trying to stay under the radar, did
he wish to have lunch in New York, whose Smith & Wollensky
steakhouse has usually hosted the lunch -- and given generously to
Glide itself.
The lunch (or dinners, as they turned out to be) were instead held
in both years, at Weschler's request, in Omaha. Buffett picked the
site, one of his favorite restaurants, Piccolo's (whose ambiance is
pervasively casual).
Meeting in July, 2010 for the $2,626,311 dinner, the two men liked
each other right away. Buffett learned about Weschler's investment
success and how he achieved it—the 'how' being as important to
Buffett as the gains themselves.
At Buffett's invitation, Weschler later came to the 2011 Berkshire
Hathaway (
BRKA) annual
meeting, held last spring. At a large private dinner on the night
of the meeting, he introduced himself to this reporter, made an
impression as smart and friendly, and described himself as having a
great time.
And then, at this year's Glide dinner, held July 26th, Buffett
almost apologetically sounded out Weschler about the possibility of
his joining Berkshire. 'I very much wanted him to do it, but I
didn't expect to get very far with the idea,' Buffett told
Fortune. 'Ted will no doubt make a lot of money at
Berkshire. But he was already making a lot of money with his fund
-- you can get an idea of that from the size of his Glide bids --
so money wasn't a reason for him to come.'
Even so, Weschler said right away he'd think it over -- and within
weeks came to the conclusion that he wanted to accept Buffett's
offer. For the moment, Weschler isn't explaining his reasons to the
press. But this reporter can speculate that Weschler's long-time
admiration for Buffett made this an offer he just couldn't
refuse.
Certainly his saying yes has rocked many a boat. He is closing his
fund, and that, for a lot of happy partners in it, cannot be good
news.
Weschler started his fund 12 years ago after getting an
undergraduate degree from Wharton, working for six years at W.R.
Grace, and helping to start a Virginia private equity fund, Quad-C.
While that fund worked its way toward buyouts, it held the cash of
its partners, and Weschler invested it, doing well in the
job.
Deciding in 1999 to strike out on his own, he started Peninsula.
The fund's first 13F filing with the SEC,
for yearend 2000
-- Weschler had by then opened the fund twice to investments --
shows it owned about $150 million of stocks.
His latest filing, for the second quarter of 2011, gives his long
position in stocks as almost $2 billion. (That amount would no
doubt be higher, were it not that Weschler closed the fund to new
money in the 2004-2005 period).
But that $2 billion in long positions only partly tells the story,
because in true hedge-fund style, Weschler shorts stocks (positions
that do not have to be reported in 13Fs) and also borrows money to
leverage the fund's capital.
At Berkshire, Weschler's shorting is likely to cease and certainly
leveraging will. Charlie Munger, Berkshire's vice-chairman, has
long said that most of the world's ills are caused by 'liquor and
leverage.'
In any case, Weschler has in Peninsula's history produced a
dazzling record, which in his letters to partners he compares to
four benchmarks -- not only to the standard comparatives like the
Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, but also to none
other than Berkshire B stock.
For partners who invested with Peninsula in early 2000, the fund at
the end of 2011's first quarter had delivered a total gain of 1236%
(a percentage so large it looks like a typo, but isn't).
In
contrast, Berkshire B had gained a mere 146%.
Weschler's investment style has been to own only a few stocks and
to stay with them -- a modus operandi sure to have endeared him to
Buffett, whose style is the same. Peninsula's latest 13F filing,
for the quarter ended in June, showed the fund holding 9
stocks.
The three biggest
positions were W.R. Grace (
GRA) ($412
million), DaVita (
DVA) ($368
million), and DirectTV (
DTV) ($328
million). DaVita runs kidney dialysis centers. W.R. Grace is in
bankruptcy, but its stock trades actively in the market.
The parameters of Weschler's about-to-be position at Berkshire were
in effect spelled out in
Buffett's
letter in this year's annual report. Weschler (as is the case
with Todd Combs) will have the opportunity to invest $1 billion to
$3 billion of Berkshire's money. Buffett, meanwhile, will continue
to be Berkshire's major domo investor.
Buffett expects Weschler to begin working at Berkshire in several
months, perhaps in February. Weschler has told Buffett he will keep
his home (just built) in Charlottesville, but will secure an
apartment in Omaha and plan to to be at Berkshire several days a
week.
So private meetings with Buffett are likely to be the new norm for
Weschler.
Maybe that means he won't be bidding this year in
the Glide auction -- or does it?
The writer of this article, a FORTUNE senior editor-at-large,
is a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder, a long-time friend of Warren
Buffett's and the pro bono editor of his annual chairman's
letter.
Posted in:
Berkshire
Hathaway,
Charlie
Munger,
Ted
Weschler,
Todd Combs,
Warren
Buffett
