Capitalism’s Woodstock - Live

• LIVE BLOG ARCHIVE: Warren Buffett's Q&A With Shareholders (Morning Session)
• LIVE BLOG: Warren Buffett's Q&A With Shareholders (Afternoon Session)

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May 4, 2008 Update: Warren Buffett Talks to CNBC's Becky Quick at Shareholders Meeting (Video with transcript)

Links: 2008-04-21

1. Tension Over Sports Blogging - NYT - a note on bloggers from credentialed news organizations
2. What Warren thinks... - Fortune interview
3. Edward Lorenz, father of Chaos Theory, dies
4. Brokeback Mountain director warns Bill C-10 means censorship
5. Filmmaker Ang Lee has no love for 'Canadian values' bill, but plenty for Vancouver
6. New Wii Games Find a Big (but Stingy) Audience - an insightful look at the Wii gaming business
7. Our Top Ten list of Privacy Act fixes - by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner

Buffett, Slim, and Gates - The richest three

According to Forbes the top of the list of the richest private citizens in the world have change. Warren Buffett is now the richest man, followed by Carlos Slim Helu, and then Bill Gates.

To me, who is the richest man is not as important as who in that group of “rich” people have I learned the most from. And for that, you just need to look at all the blog entries that I have tagged with Warren Buffett to see. (smile) I’ve also tagged a few insightful videos of Warren, including this one.

The Warren Buffett poll and shareholder letter

Warren Buffett is one of the richest people in the world and yet he is very generous in his willingness to share his wisdom and insights.

This year, he got CNBC to post a poll to ask people what do they think the Dow Jones Industrials Average will be on December 31, 2099. What's your prediction? And more importantly, why? Warren will share his answer in Berkshire Hathaway's 2007 shareholder letter.

For longer than I can remember, I have been reading and trying to learn from Warren's shareholder letters, and this year will be not exception. Happy reading and learning.

Warren Buffett loves Loonie

Warren Buffett came to Canada last week. Here is an interview and an exclusive and insightful interview video in National Post.

[via Portfolio.com]

Warren Buffett Copycats

I just finished reading “Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway”, a 42 pages research paper (free PDF file) by two university finance professors.

The paper is a good read although it may be a challenge to read through the paper without feeling totally confused at some point.

Here are some unexpected takeaways for me (the expected ones are pretty much in the abstract of the paper),

1. A 4.5 pages tutorial on SEC forms 10K, 13F, 13D, 13G, 3, 4, 5, 13D/A, and 13G/A. And wow, I read them all!
2. How they correct the so-called “ex-post selection bias”
3. “Overall, we conclude the performance of Berkshire Hathaway’s investment portfolio indicates superior investment skill in direct contradiction to Efficient Market Theory (EMT).” I have hated EMT as a theory for years even it is a required part of any Finance course. I am also delighted to read this footnote (emphasis mine),
   • “In the book “Poor Charlie’s Almanack”, Charles T. Munger, Berkshire Hathaway’s Vice Chairman, interestingly notes that Paul Samuelson [Nobel Economist 1970] who was one of the important early proponents of efficient markets theory has had a significant investment in Berkshire Hathaway for a long time. In Munger’s words, “it appears Samuelson was hedging”.“

Further readings: I have blogged extensively about what I know of Warren Buffett so feel free to check out the entries I’ve tagged with Warren Buffett.

Disclosure: I have direct, indirect or imaginary investment in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. So considered yourself warned of my potential bias or lack of bias. (smile)

Credit: I think I originally heard about this paper from Paul Kedrosky but I can’t seem to find his original entry now. Thanks Paul (I think).