A few days ago, Warren Buffett, the most successful investor in history, said he would retire as C.E.O. of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate that he built into a trillion-dollar colossus.Andrew Ross Sorkin, who has covered Mr. Buffett for many years, discusses the career of the man who both personified and critiqued American capitalism.Guest: Andrew Ross Sorkin, a columnist and the founder and editor-at-large of DealBook.Background reading: Warren Buffett said he plans to step down as head of Berkshire Hathaway.Here’s what Mr. Buffett’s exit means.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Scott Morgan/Reuters Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Chapter 1: What is the significance of Warren Buffett's retirement announcement?
From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. A few days ago, the most successful investor in history, Warren Buffett, said he would retire as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate that he built into a $1 trillion colossus. Today... My colleague, Andrew Ross Sorkin, on his front row view of the man who both personified and critiqued American capitalism.
It's Wednesday, May 7th. Okay, shall we?
I'm going to be old and don't wear glasses.
Mine were already on.
I guess I'm old. Okay. Andrew?
Thank you for being here.
Thanks for having me.
You were actually in the room when Warren Buffett broke the news to the world that he was going to be retiring. Can you set that scene for us?
It was a remarkable moment, really just the end of an era in the world of capitalism. But let me just take a full step back, if I could, to explain.
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Chapter 2: What was the atmosphere like at the Berkshire Hathaway meeting?
What does that mean, really?
So if Burlington Northern is super profitable, he can take the cash that's coming off of that, and maybe he decides, I want to invest even more money in See's Candies. And so he's constantly able to sort of move the profits from one business to another. And he would tell you that his greatest...
Talent is what he would call capital allocation, this idea that he is better at moving money and identifying where the next big opportunity is than just about anybody else.
100%.
And the other thing is because his public thesis is that he's going to hold these businesses for a very long time, there are a lot of people who have been willing to sell him businesses at probably lower values than they would sell it to somebody else because they know that That he's genuinely trying to take care of these businesses, and he wants them to last as humanly possible.
And he will hold on to these businesses, even businesses that are struggling, far longer than just about anybody else. And it's that long-term thinking that makes him so admired, but also the way he approaches his life.
And, you know, you can write it off as sort of a folksy charm, but this is a guy who's worth something on the order now of $160-plus billion with a B, who is living in the same house that he bought in 1958 for $31,000. And up until just a couple of years ago, he would drive his own car to work. And he would go to McDonald's and go through the drive-thru like everybody else.
And so in an era of billionaires and yachts and homes and cars and planes and this and that, Warren Buffett has never been that. You know, at one point he actually did buy a private plane. What did he name his plane?
What did he name it?
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