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There was one person and one investment that marked Warren Buffett’s transition from a “good business at a great price” investor to a “great business at a good price” investor. That person was of course the late Charlie Munger. And the investment was in American Express after it suffered a major scandal. Back in 1960, Amex had three operating segments: a dominant travelers checks business, a credit card business growing at 25% per annum, and a lousy “field warehousing” business The way the field warehousing worked was producers could deposit commomdities in one of the warehouses operated by American Express, who would then issue a receipt of authenticity. These warehouse receipts could then be traded or used as collateral for a loan, because the receipts represented claims on the physical product. But in 1963, it was uncovered that the warehouse receipt for 395 million pounds of soybean oil were fraudulent. Tanks that should have been filled with soybean oil instead turned out to be seawater or some other mystery fluid. Amex now found itself potentially liable for hundreds of millions of $$$. In the months that followed, Amex’s stock price plummeted 50% and Buffett bought 70k shares for his partnership, Buffett Partnership Limited (this was before the Berkshire Hathaway days). But Amex was fundamentally different than the “cigar butts” stocks that Buffett bought in the past. Amex was a great business: asset light, well recognized brand, stellar reputation — kist in the middle of a scandal. In the end, Amex settled with claimants for a total of only $32 million and Buffett made a killing after the share price more than recovered. But more importantly, Buffett saw what a difference investing in high-quality, moaty businesses could make, and carried these lessons to eventual Berkshire Hathaway. $AXP $BRK.A $BRK.B #BerkshireHathaway #WarrenBuffett #CharlieMunger #Amex #AmericanExpress #KenChenault #KennethChenault $SaladOil #commodity #warehouse #commodityscandal #scandal #financefunfact #finance #financetrivia
Duration: 138 sPosted : Thu, 04 Jan 2024 23:49:22Views
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