Legendary investor Warren Buffett has attained the status of America's friendly uncle, overlooking financial markets and the economy with benign wisdom.
But that doesn't quite fit reality,
explains New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin. He notes that Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has no more desire than any other corporate chieftain to keep unneeded workers on board.
"I don’t know of any company that has a policy that says, ‘We’re going to have a lot more people than we need,'" Buffett told a questioner at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting Saturday.
"Mr. Buffett’s avuncular ways often disguise another truth: he isn’t always a cuddly teddy bear," Sorkin writes. "While he says he prefers a hands-off management approach, he runs a pretty lean organization."
Buffett's take: "we do have some businesses where we probably have more people than we need, and I don’t do anything about it. But that doesn’t mean that I endorse it. I basically tolerate it."
Meanwhile, with mixed messages coursing through the stock market as the S&P 500 index hovers 1 percent below its record high, you could do a lot worse than snapping up some of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
"Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway look downright cheap following a four-month retreat, at a time when it’s hard to find any stock bargains,"
writes MarketWatch columnist Michael Brush. "And the shares offer an attractive risk-reward balance in a market that looks precarious."
Berkshire B shares have dropped 3.1 percent so far this year, compared to a 2.1 percent increase for the S&P 500. The stock traded at $146 Tuesday morning. Brush sees support at $140.
"So pick up some Berkshire shares now, as long as you have the minimum five-year time horizon that Buffett prescribes," Brush writes.
"Berkshire’s shares trade for about 1.45 times book value. Buffett says he would be a buyer of the stock, with company money, if it were to trade below 1.2 times book."
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