The article makes me think about our industry (investing). It is much harder these days to find lasting businesses. There are a few other examples of these disruptors.
Casper in mattresses
Blue Nile in diamond rings
Warby Parker in glasses
What are some of the research tools that people use in their investment process? A few that come to mind listed below:
To check insider transactions
http://openinsider.com/
To check executive salaries
http://www.salary.com/Executive-Salaries/
To check political lobbying spending by companies
https://www.opensecrets.org/
To check macro data points
http://www.statista.com/
To screen for ideas
http://finviz.com/
To check 13f filings
http://www.dataroma.com/m/home.php
Yes I completely agree with you. Many of his investments have been "creating the industry" around the particular company which he picks. It's truly amazing to have the ability and capital to do that.
Starting this thread to see if anyone has any information on Zhang Lei of Hillhouse Capital. It has been reported that he has annualized at ~40% since inception with AUM of around $18bn now. If anyone has access to investor letters or any other info it would be greatly appreciated if you could share them here. Below are some articles that I have found online.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/business/the-chinese-billionaire-zhang-lei-spins-research-into-investment-gold.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6f160a50-f5fe-11e3-a038-00144feabdc0.html
http://www.wsj.com/articles/stanford-is-giving-this-chinese-investor-200-million-1439854567
http://www.marketfolly.com/2015/07/lei-zhangs-lecture-at-columbia-business.html
http://www.cenveomobile.com/i/367435-summer-2014/43
http://www.insidermonkey.com/hedge-fund/hillhouse+capital+management/481/
It always seems that when BRK is getting close to the 1.2x book the stock portfolio (IBM, AXP, etc.) declines as well. So you never hit the 1.2x book mark for Buffett to start repurchasing.
If you were to choose three companies to invest in for the next ten years. (After you invest in them you will be transported to another planet with no connection to this world for the next ten years) What would they be?