Who manages the businesses in which you invest is important. Managements change over time. While management is important, investing in excellent businesses is the top priority. Having a shareholder friendly management team is another important factor, but not the most important. “I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them because sooner or later, one will.”
Managements wander when they get bored. Acquisitions and large business deals typically raise management’s collective pulse – even if the deal is not particularly attractive. “Talking to Time Magazine a few years back, Peter Drucker got to the heart of things: ‘I will tell you a secret: Dealmaking beats working. Dealmaking is exciting and fun, and working is grubby. Running anything is primarily an enormous amount of grubby detail work . . . dealmaking is romantic, sexy. That’s why you have deals that make no sense.’”
ANW Price at posting:
1.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held