(I was originally going to title this post "Buffett Unleashed" but I didn't want to make CFB spew hot caffeine through his nasal passages.)
I don't watch much TV so I didn't pick up on this until last night, but Buffett let a CNBC reporter (I know, oxymoronic) accompany his recent trip to China & Korea. Becky Quick has interviewed him a few times before so they turned the road show into a whole series of website transcripts & videos.
IMO Buffett has never made any particular effort to market to the press. Shareholders, sure, but not the media or the great unwashed public. He's played a lot of bridge with Carol Loomis (a Fortune editor) and he helped his ex-daughter-in-law with a biography (or at least didn't get in her way), but he generally ignores his press or even tries to evade disclosure.
That seems to be changing. Roger Lowenstein wrote an excellent Buffett biography in the 1990s completely without Buffett's help, and several other authors have made similar unaided contributions, but Alice Schroeder has spent over three years working with Buffett on his first authorized biography (due in April). She's a highly-regarded insurance analyst (especially on General Re) so it'll be interesting to see if this is a critical look or a hagiography.
Becky Quick's unprecedented access leads to more fan worship than reporting. Of course she wouldn't continue to enjoy this access if she said snarky things about him, but if Buffett (or his staff) were trying to conceal frailty or even a whiff of Alzheimer's symptoms then you know she'd break the story like a starving dog on raw meat. Buffett appears to be disgustingly healthy for his lifestyle, so the interviews are pretty light and full of earth-shattering queries like "What's in Warren's Wallet?"
What I found interesting was her overview of the trip, including her comments on Buffett's drive & stamina. She claims that the man is even more of a marathon machine than we've been led to believe.
CNBC's exposure might help persuade people that Buffett is still at the top of his game, but I think he's also opened Pandora's Box. Now that he's shared so much of himself with the public it'll be hard for him to hide the signs of aging by sequestering himself in his office. Either that or there's a conspiracy about Buffett body doubles...
The rest of the links at the bottom of her commentaries are as light as the wallet research, but there are interesting tidbits about China, Korea, & Iscar.
I don't watch much TV so I didn't pick up on this until last night, but Buffett let a CNBC reporter (I know, oxymoronic) accompany his recent trip to China & Korea. Becky Quick has interviewed him a few times before so they turned the road show into a whole series of website transcripts & videos.
IMO Buffett has never made any particular effort to market to the press. Shareholders, sure, but not the media or the great unwashed public. He's played a lot of bridge with Carol Loomis (a Fortune editor) and he helped his ex-daughter-in-law with a biography (or at least didn't get in her way), but he generally ignores his press or even tries to evade disclosure.
That seems to be changing. Roger Lowenstein wrote an excellent Buffett biography in the 1990s completely without Buffett's help, and several other authors have made similar unaided contributions, but Alice Schroeder has spent over three years working with Buffett on his first authorized biography (due in April). She's a highly-regarded insurance analyst (especially on General Re) so it'll be interesting to see if this is a critical look or a hagiography.
Becky Quick's unprecedented access leads to more fan worship than reporting. Of course she wouldn't continue to enjoy this access if she said snarky things about him, but if Buffett (or his staff) were trying to conceal frailty or even a whiff of Alzheimer's symptoms then you know she'd break the story like a starving dog on raw meat. Buffett appears to be disgustingly healthy for his lifestyle, so the interviews are pretty light and full of earth-shattering queries like "What's in Warren's Wallet?"
What I found interesting was her overview of the trip, including her comments on Buffett's drive & stamina. She claims that the man is even more of a marathon machine than we've been led to believe.
CNBC's exposure might help persuade people that Buffett is still at the top of his game, but I think he's also opened Pandora's Box. Now that he's shared so much of himself with the public it'll be hard for him to hide the signs of aging by sequestering himself in his office. Either that or there's a conspiracy about Buffett body doubles...
The rest of the links at the bottom of her commentaries are as light as the wallet research, but there are interesting tidbits about China, Korea, & Iscar.