{"id":141134,"date":"2010-01-05T13:26:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-05T18:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087194156628161158.post-1554442051747950450"},"modified":"2010-01-05T13:29:14","modified_gmt":"2010-01-05T18:29:14","slug":"the-guardian-warren-buffetts-public-attack-on-kraft-is-out-of-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/141134","title":{"rendered":"THE GUARDIAN: Warren Buffett&#8217;s public attack on Kraft is out of character"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">When Buffett wants a strategic change, he generally wields his influence behind closed doors<\/span>                                     <\/p>\n<div id=\"content\">\n<ul class=\"article-attributes\">\n<li class=\"byline\">                                                            Andrew Clark     <\/li>\n<li class=\"publication\">            guardian.co.uk,                    Tuesday 5 January 2010 17.13 GMT                           <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"article-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image\">        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/static.guim.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2009\/3\/12\/1236858923924\/US-Investor-Warren-Buffet-001.jpg\" alt=\"US Investor Warren Buffett \" height=\"276\" width=\"460\" \/>            <\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">US investor Warren Buffett has slammed Kraft board over its revised bid for Cadburys. Photograph: Andrea Comas \/Reuters<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The world&#8217;s second richest man, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/business\/warrenbuffett\" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on Warren Buffett\">Warren Buffett<\/a>, is among the most powerful figures in the American business world but it is rare for the Nebraska-based billionaire to pick a fight in public with the management of one of his favoured companies.<\/p>\n<p>Renowned for his witty homilies of homespun wisdom, Buffett, whose personal fortune is estimated at $37bn (\u00a323bn), has chunky stakes in a list of blue-chip corporations ranging from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/business\/goldmansachs\" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on Goldman Sachs\">Goldman Sachs<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/business\/generalelectric\" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on General Electric\">General Electric<\/a> to ConocoPhillips, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/business\/tesco\" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on Tesco\">Tesco<\/a>, Johnson &amp; Johnson and Swiss Re.<\/p>\n<p>For all its billions of dollars of weight, his Berkshire Hathaway investment empire adopts a policy of minimal interference in boardroom decisions. Unlike an activist hedge fund, Buffett stresses that he is an investor, rather than a manager, and on the rare instances where he wants a strategic change, he generally wields his influence behind closed doors.<\/p>\n<p>Justin Fuller, a Chicago investment manager who edits a website, Buffettologist, says Buffett&#8217;s public attack on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/business\/kraft\" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on Kraft\">Kraft<\/a>&#8216;s use of shares to bid for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/business\/cadburyschweppes\" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on Cadbury\">Cadbury<\/a> is a sign that the so-called Sage of Omaha feels he is being ignored by Kraft&#8217;s board \u2013 and that his money could be misused.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He probably would have said something privately to Kraft&#8217;s leadership and board,&#8221; said Fuller. &#8220;The fact that he went public with this is significant \u2013 it&#8217;s a shot across their bows.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2000, Buffett was instrumental in halting a move by Coca-Cola to splash out $15.7bn on food firm Quaker Oats. As a Coke board member and investor, he argued that the move would raise competition issues and was poor value. But his behind-the-scenes opposition only emerged after Coke abandoned the takeover, clearing the way for rival Pepsi to pick up Quaker.<\/p>\n<p>At his annual gathering of Berkshire Hathaway investors in Omaha, Buffett has routinely refused to intervene in corporate decisions including the construction of ecologically controversial Oregon dams by a Berkshire company, Pacificorp. Two years ago, he declined to speak out on links between PetroChina, in which Berkshire had a stake, and a parent firm that did business in war-ravaged Sudan. And he has stood firm as a shareholder in the credit rating agency Moody&#8217;s despite criticism that it spectacularly failed to see the risks inherent in mortgage-backed securities.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to matters beyond his own portfolio, Buffett is more outspoken. He demeaned <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/business\/bank-of-america\" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on Bank of America\">Bank of America<\/a>&#8216;s former boss, Ken Lewis, as an &#8220;ironic hero&#8221; of the global financial crisis. And he threw his weight behind the US government&#8217;s programme of bank bailouts, warning that the credit crunch was an &#8220;economic Pearl Harbour&#8221; and that turmoil in the wake of the collapse of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/business\/lehmanbrothers\" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on Lehman Brothers\">Lehman Brothers<\/a> would &#8220;look like Nirvana&#8221; without congressional action.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"comments\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Share Investor Links<\/span><\/a><a name=\"comments\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.shareinvestorblog.com\/\">Share Investor Blog<\/a> &#8211; Stockmarket &amp; Business commentary<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/shareinvestornz.blogspot.com\/2007\/02\/new-zealand-business-news.html\">Share Investor New Zealand Business News<\/a>&#8211; Get more business news<br \/>Discuss this topic @<a href=\"http:\/\/www.shareinvestorforum.com\/\"> Share Investor Forum<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/shareinvestorforum.com\/ucp.php?mode=register&amp;sid=450a61250472e03fa25c205c9c1723f1\"><strong>Register<strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/a> free<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.currency-market.blogspot.com\/\">Share Investor&#8217;s Daily Forex Updates<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Recommended Amazon Reading<\/span><\/p>\n<table id=\"searchResults\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"clsEven\">\n<td class=\"tdimage\"><a href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/shareinvestorbookstore-20\/detail\/1416573186\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41ZkoqL3OTL._SL75_.jpg\" alt=\"Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements: The Search for the Company with a Durable Competitive Advantage\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td class=\"tddescription\"><a href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/shareinvestorbookstore-20\/detail\/1416573186\">Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements: The Search for the Company with a Durable Competitive Advantage<\/a> by <span class=\"by\">Mary Buffett<\/span><br \/>Buy new:        $16.47       \/ Used from:        $15.70<br \/><span class=\"availability\">Usually ships in 24 hours<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"clsOdd\">\n<td class=\"tdimage\"><a href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/shareinvestorbookstore-20\/detail\/0966446127\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/315%2BfrL4YuL._SL75_.jpg\" alt=\"The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td class=\"tddescription\"><a href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/shareinvestorbookstore-20\/detail\/0966446127\">The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition<\/a> by <span class=\"by\">Warren E. 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Photograph: Andrea Comas \/Reuters The world&#8217;s second richest man, Warren Buffett, is among the most powerful figures in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":833,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/833"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}