Buffett's Early Investments - my new book

[Brett]

Hi all,

 

I recently wrote Buffett's Early Investments: A new investigation into the decades when Warren Buffett earned his best returns, which is coming out in one month (Amazon: https://amzn.to/4gRJaiy).

 

I cover ten case studies from the 1950s and 1960s (which includes both partnership investments and investments he made pre-partnership). Pre-partnership, I cover: Marshall-Wells, Greif Bros, Cleveland Worsted Mills, Union Street Railway, and Philadelphia and Reading. The partnership investments I cover are: British Columbia Power, American Express, Studebaker, Hochschild Kohn, and Walt Disney Productions. 

 

I have been posting some Buffett-content that didn't make it into the book on X, such as his letter to Merchants National Properties: https://x.com/brettgardner_10/status/1836016824833515657

 

Happy to answer any questions about the book!  I will be having some events in NYC promoting the book and will be at Berkshire next year. 

Edited October 6 by Brett

[Morgan]

I pre-ordered it and am looking forward to it! 

[Spooky]

Sounds great. I love case studies. Congrats on the book!

[LC]

That’s awesome- I’ll order a copy. i found the early partnership letters are great - these case studies will be very useful for beginner/smaller/PA investors.

[John Hjorth]

I ordered the book today, too, @Brett,

 

I'm sure it'll be a nice addition to my collection of other 'speciality' books totally focused on Buffett and/or Berkshire.

 

I see your publisher is Harriman House - just for your information, I'll mention here, that I was actually able to preorder the book at my favorite Danish digital bookstore - www.saxo.com - today, so I don't have to go through the hazzle of Danish customs etc. by preordering the book at Amazon.

 

So things seem to work out nicely for your debut as book author.

 

Best wishes for you with the whole process.

[pricingpower]

Sounds neat, in for a copy, funny how thriftbooks has hardcover pre-orders priced below even the kindle edition on amazon

[Hamburg Investor]

On 10/7/2024 at 5:53 PM, pricingpower said:

Sounds neat, in for a copy, funny how thriftbooks has hardcover pre-orders priced below even the kindle edition on amazon

+1 order to Germany. to the author: What have you learned or was the biggest news for yourself when doing the analysis?

[schin]

On 10/6/2024 at 10:22 AM, Brett said:

Hi all,

 

I recently wrote Buffett's Early Investments: A new investigation into the decades when Warren Buffett earned his best returns, which is coming out in one month (Amazon: https://amzn.to/4gRJaiy).

 

I cover ten case studies from the 1950s and 1960s (which includes both partnership investments and investments he made pre-partnership). Pre-partnership, I cover: Marshall-Wells, Greif Bros, Cleveland Worsted Mills, Union Street Railway, and Philadelphia and Reading. The partnership investments I cover are: British Columbia Power, American Express, Studebaker, Hochschild Kohn, and Walt Disney Productions. 

 

I have been posting some Buffett-content that didn't make it into the book on X, such as his letter to Merchants National Properties: https://x.com/brettgardner_10/status/1836016824833515657

 

Happy to answer any questions about the book!  I will be having some events in NYC promoting the book and will be at Berkshire next year. 

 

@Brett

Your book reminds me of this book about Warren's early investments. Have you read this and do you delve more in certain areas? 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Deals-Warren-Buffett-First-100M/dp/B07V5NVRNQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3U9AOZ8X8447O&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CIyUYcC3FjK_Z53MyKpdESDGkIvPbTH39RZpKO3nZqWiOjyvhiZkf4bYb2sogvCiic_Yt3tXDD1BzvSNwG0Rn7AI_9JDGHRVdurW4egCF3VppnEwViQPq2qnRV4qZN6O0sz7RlfLo3Qj6CQ2VEMWbqrzboJ45rJvErv2PT1oMYBXF_OPJ5xMbaPzVYnW-K1F0XcJJKLS71rzJBUN5yvq6XSJj0Q71_UCumbF2fiptcs.-CQfrtZfu9_33xGfkjnNCZpbKSUOIkV7ZhHDeDqSHew&dib_tag=se&keywords=The+Deals+of+Warren+Buffett&qid=1728412392&s=books&sprefix=the+deals+of+warren+buffett%2Cstripbooks%2C1175&sr=1-1

[Brett]

2 hours ago, schin said:

 

@Brett

Your book reminds me of this book about Warren's early investments. Have you read this and do you delve more in certain areas? 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Deals-Warren-Buffett-First-100M/dp/B07V5NVRNQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3U9AOZ8X8447O&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CIyUYcC3FjK_Z53MyKpdESDGkIvPbTH39RZpKO3nZqWiOjyvhiZkf4bYb2sogvCiic_Yt3tXDD1BzvSNwG0Rn7AI_9JDGHRVdurW4egCF3VppnEwViQPq2qnRV4qZN6O0sz7RlfLo3Qj6CQ2VEMWbqrzboJ45rJvErv2PT1oMYBXF_OPJ5xMbaPzVYnW-K1F0XcJJKLS71rzJBUN5yvq6XSJj0Q71_UCumbF2fiptcs.-CQfrtZfu9_33xGfkjnNCZpbKSUOIkV7ZhHDeDqSHew&dib_tag=se&keywords=The+Deals+of+Warren+Buffett&qid=1728412392&s=books&sprefix=the+deals+of+warren+buffett%2Cstripbooks%2C1175&sr=1-1

Great question.

 

I have read this. I believe I go deeper on each investment and my work is much more valuation and financials focused. The annual reports for these companies are the foundation of my work--I think I'm the first author to obtain the Hochschild Kohn annual reports, for example. My book is aimed more at practitioners than a general audience, with more data on each company. I probably spend less time on 'lessons for investors' than that book did. I also think I have different takes than his: for example, Buffett had to underwrite a major corporate governance risk with the Disney investment that I don't think other authors have covered. I tried my best to analyze these investments the way Buffett would have at the time, with proper attention devoted to the underlying risks of each investment.

 

[Brett]

4 hours ago, Hamburg Investor said:

+1 order to Germany. to the author: What have you learned or was the biggest news for yourself when doing the analysis?

I'd say three things:

1. The degree to which Buffett was concentrated not only in his partnership but throughout his Berkshire years. I had an idea but the data surprised me!

2. The level of gumshoe / detective work Buffett did. People think Buffett got rich reading Moody's Manuals... It's a gross oversimplification. He burned a lot of shoe leather to uncover differentiated insights into companies.  

3. The amount of activism Buffett performed in these early days, and how it informed the creation of Berkshire Hathaway. My favorite chapter in the book is Philadelphia and Reading--I think you can draw a straight line from P&R to Berkshire. Buffett saw all the levers a control investor could pull to create value... and then did the same with Berkshire!

[schin]

47 minutes ago, Brett said:

Great question.

 

I have read this. I believe I go deeper on each investment and my work is much more valuation and financials focused. The annual reports for these companies are the foundation of my work--I think I'm the first author to obtain the Hochschild Kohn annual reports, for example. My book is aimed more at practitioners than a general audience, with more data on each company. I probably spend less time on 'lessons for investors' than that book did. I also think I have different takes than his: for example, Buffett had to underwrite a major corporate governance risk with the Disney investment that I don't think other authors have covered. I tried my best to analyze these investments the way Buffett would have at the time, with proper attention devoted to the underlying risks of each investment.

 

 

@Brett - Thanks. I'll look forward to it. Please remember the little people on theCOBF when you become famous.... that's all we ask.

[schin]

45 minutes ago, Brett said:

I'd say three things:

1. The degree to which Buffett was concentrated not only in his partnership but throughout his Berkshire years. I had an idea but the data surprised me!

2. The level of gumshoe / detective work Buffett did. People think Buffett got rich reading Moody's Manuals... It's a gross oversimplification. He burned a lot of shoe leather to uncover differentiated insights into companies.  

3. The amount of activism Buffett performed in these early days, and how it informed the creation of Berkshire Hathaway. My favorite chapter in the book is Philadelphia and Reading--I think you can draw a straight line from P&R to Berkshire. Buffett saw all the levers a control investor could pull to create value... and then did the same with Berkshire!

 

@Brett - Do you feel anyone is doing the type of due diligence and early activism he did? Are you planning to do something similar to Charlie's partnership?

[Ver]

Exciting to hear, definitely getting this!

 

I'm curious, were you able to get his personal account portfolios by year in the 50's? I could not find anything concrete after the end of 1951.

[Saluki]

Congrats!  I'll pick up a copy.  

 

Too late for the book, but maybe for a follow up edition, I was always curious to find information on one that Alice Schroeder mentioned, but that did not make it into her book:  Mid Continent Tab Company, which made those index cards for IBM machines, and he compounded at 30% a year on it.  I haven't seen it mentioned in any book. 

[DooDiligence]

3 hours ago, Saluki said:

Congrats!  I'll pick up a copy.  

 

Too late for the book, but maybe for a follow up edition, I was always curious to find information on one that Alice Schroeder mentioned, but that did not make it into her book:  Mid Continent Tab Company, which made those index cards for IBM machines, and he compounded at 30% a year on it.  I haven't seen it mentioned in any book. 

 

Cool story

[CassiusKing1]

Very cool.  Thanks for posting @DooDiligence!

[Brett]

On 10/8/2024 at 6:01 PM, schin said:

 

@Brett - Thanks. I'll look forward to it. Please remember the little people on theCOBF when you become famous.... that's all we ask.

Ha! Of course, will always remember you folks.

 

To answer your other question: I had a much harder time finding enough investments on Charlie's partnership to write about. His documents aren't public, so I don't know enough of his positions.

 

On 10/9/2024 at 6:09 AM, Ver said:

Exciting to hear, definitely getting this!

 

I'm curious, were you able to get his personal account portfolios by year in the 50's? I could not find anything concrete after the end of 1951.

Kilpatrick's book has 1950 and 1951, and then I had to piece together the rest from The Snowball... so the answer is no!

 

On 10/9/2024 at 1:26 PM, Saluki said:

Congrats!  I'll pick up a copy.  

 

Too late for the book, but maybe for a follow up edition, I was always curious to find information on one that Alice Schroeder mentioned, but that did not make it into her book:  Mid Continent Tab Company, which made those index cards for IBM machines, and he compounded at 30% a year on it.  I haven't seen it mentioned in any book. 

Thank you! Have you seen this video by her? She does a great job here of analyzing it.

 

[bt1]

@Brett look forward to reading your book.

Would you mind sharing how you got hold of old time annual reports (like Hochschild Kohn, for e.g. Many years ago I stumbled on a website that used to host old time annual reports but since then I lost my bookmark of it and have not been able to find a good alternate, hence this question)

[Brett]

14 hours ago, bt1 said:

@Brett look forward to reading your book.

Would you mind sharing how you got hold of old time annual reports (like Hochschild Kohn, for e.g. Many years ago I stumbled on a website that used to host old time annual reports but since then I lost my bookmark of it and have not been able to find a good alternate, hence this question)

Of course! Hochschild Kohn was as private company when Diversified Retailing bought the company in 1966. But they had a number of stockholders (all family) and issued debt, so they put together some annual reports. HK was a critical company to the Baltimore community, so one of the local libraries had a whole host of company documents, including annual reports! 

 

In terms of finding old annual reports, these are some great websites:

https://apps.lib.purdue.edu/abldars/

https://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/bruno/annual-reports/

 

The Mergent archives, a database that some public libraries, such as the New York Public Library, have is a great resources as well. They have a ton of them on PDF that you can download.

[EricSchleien]

Congrats! Just pre-ordered your book. Happy to support you (and anyone in our community) however I can. 

 

After I read the book (assuming I can stand behind it with integrity which I have no reason to see why I would not), I'd be happy to to promote it on my social media and also write a review on Amazon and Goodreads or any other platform you think would make a difference. I have quite a large following on my Instagram (@lonestarblaze) and my Twitter (@EricSchleien) as well as have an email list of contacts of in the tens of thousands of people so happy to shoot out an email to friends and colleagues as well.

 

Warmly,

Eric

[Spekulatius]

On 10/9/2024 at 5:09 PM, DooDiligence said:

 

Cool story

He bought 16% of a company  with $1M in revenues with 36% profit margins for 60k. That company was growing profits 70% YoY. Thats paying 375k for a business that earnings $360k or ~1x EBIT. Even ignoring the 70% growth, I am not surprised he didn’t need a DCF model to invest in they one.

Edited November 6 by Spekulatius

[John Hjorth]

Hi Bret [ @Brett ],

 

My copy of the book arrived in good shape at its new home here in Denmark today. I personally think it would be customary to let you open and start a topic in the Books forum here on CoBF for and about the book. 

[Brett]

On 11/4/2024 at 4:14 PM, EricSchleien said:

Congrats! Just pre-ordered your book. Happy to support you (and anyone in our community) however I can. 

 

After I read the book (assuming I can stand behind it with integrity which I have no reason to see why I would not), I'd be happy to to promote it on my social media and also write a review on Amazon and Goodreads or any other platform you think would make a difference. I have quite a large following on my Instagram (@lonestarblaze) and my Twitter (@EricSchleien) as well as have an email list of contacts of in the tens of thousands of people so happy to shoot out an email to friends and colleagues as well.

 

Warmly,

Eric

Thank you so much, Eric! That is a very generous offer and would be incredible--assuming you like it!

[Brett]

On 11/7/2024 at 5:09 AM, John Hjorth said:

Hi Bret [ @Brett ],

 

My copy of the book arrived in good shape at its new home here in Denmark today. I personally think it would be customary to let you open and start a topic in the Books forum here on CoBF for and about the book. 

Thank you! That's a good idea! I hope you enjoy my book.

[wabuffo]

Got the book.  Really enjoying it so far.   Good job!

 

Bill