Warren Buffett - The Investment Guru

After taking over Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett along with the management team tried to turnaround the company but failed. Meanwhile, Buffett, through Berkshire Hathaway, started acquiring a controlling stake in insurance companies. In 1967, Berkshire Hathaway bought outstanding stock¹⁰ in two insurance companies, National Indemnity Company and National Fire & Marine Insurance Company. When Buffett acquired a stake in these companies, insurance was one of the most profitable businesses. In 1967, National Indemnity had reported $1.6 million net income for $16.8 million premiums collected. By the next year, its net income increased to $2.2 million on premiums of $20 million...

Berkshire Hathaway was the 25th largest private employer in the US with 1,45,000 employees on its payrolls. One of Buffett's driving principles was to acquire businesses with good management teams and to avoid interfering in their day-to-day business. According to his admirers, Buffett had excellent people judging skills. Rich Santulli, CEO, NetJets, said, "He is the best judge of human talent there is. And people want to work for him."²⁰ In Berkshire Hathaway, it was noted that in the 38 years of its history, no single employee in the top management level left to join another company...