MOATS are for dummies!

[saltybit]

Buffett has said somewhere that he wants a business that even an idiot can run.  He was wrong in this statement.  Coke required really good CEOs to maintain its leadership position.  Buffett has been involved in ousting weak CEOs at coke.  Management is always key.  There are no exceptions.

 

He wants a business that can be run by ham sandwhich because someday a ham sandwhich will end up running it. I think one of the deeper points in that statement is a company with a strong moat will be more likely to survive sub-par management for quite a while. If you own a business for a very long time there is a good chance you will get some bad managers in there. The Moat can help mitigate that. The bad manager does some damage for while and you boot them out and recover. In the long run the brand or company is not severely damaged. The new coke fiasco might be an example of that.

 

Which businesses are currently in this state right now? (previously thought of as moated but lost a bit of the shine due to ham sandwich management)