Buffett on David Winters.

[valueorama]

http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/Ask_Warren/149526389

 

Looks like the Buffett just ripped David winters. I have never seen buffett pick anybody like this. People will think twice about putting money with David Winters now. (The takedown starts at 3:20).

[hardincap]

Wow. For Buffett to attack someone like that means he is PO.

[KinAlberta]

http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/Ask_Warren/149526389

 

Looks like the Buffett just ripped David winters. I have never seen buffett pick anybody like this. People will think twice about putting money with David Winters now. (The takedown starts at 3:20).

 

Can't see the video but read a quote.

 

Buffett might be right on Winters but I really hate diversionary tactics like Buffett just used. 

[cubsfan]

It just seems like Winters could never let this issue go.

After Buffett explained himself last year at the annual meeting, Winters was PO'ed.

And recently, Winter's has gone after him again.

 

Buffett ripped him good on his fees and underperformance.

[gfp]

So much for "praise by name and criticize by category"..

[Grenville]

wow. I haven't seen Buffett rail on a guy like that….

[Tim Eriksen]

It just seems like Winters could never let this issue go.

After Buffett explained himself last year at the annual meeting, Winters was PO'ed.

And recently, Winter's has gone after him again.

 

Buffett ripped him good on his fees and underperformance.

 

Classless move.  What Winters charges in fees is known up front and voluntarily entered into.

[NormR]

Ouch!

[CorpRaider]

Winters shouldn't have brought Buffett into it after the initial response.  But yeah, he just curb stomped him.

[cubsfan]

I've always liked David Winters, but he took all of this too far.

 

He made such a big deal about dumping Berkshire stock last year over this Coke issue.

He had to be the Coke activist that would shame Warren into action.

[CorpRaider]

Yeah, he should have let it go after the first round and after Buffett sort of chastised Coke along with him.  Especially given his poor performance, high fees and the math errors in his original position on the compensation plan.

[ni-co]

I don't find it classy though Buffett has a point here. Winters is really the one who made the whole thing personal by bringing up conflict of interest etc. – and then drawing +$20m from his fund's clients/shareholders for long-term underperformance while criticizing KO management for their excess compensation is really throwing bricks in a glass house.

[brker_guy]

Classless move.  What Winters charges in fees is known up front and voluntarily entered into.

 

For all of these years that I have followed Buffett, Buffett chooses his words VERY, VERY CARFULLY.  He would never take shots like he did unless the facts are there to back him up.  Read btw the lines of what Buffett said.  Do you think Buffett didn't do his homework on David Winters' performance before he spoke up?

[ni-co]

It just seems like Winters could never let this issue go.

After Buffett explained himself last year at the annual meeting, Winters was PO'ed.

And recently, Winter's has gone after him again.

 

Buffett ripped him good on his fees and underperformance.

 

Classless move.  What Winters charges in fees is known up front and voluntarily entered into.

 

Come on. You know that this is just a marketing game. I'd bet you that 90% of his shareholders have neither an idea what he's charging nor that he's underperforming.

[jschembs]

Classless move.  What Winters charges in fees is known up front and voluntarily entered into.

 

For all of these years that I have followed Buffett, Buffett chooses his words VERY, VERY CARFULLY.  He would never take shots like he did unless the facts are there to back him up.  Read btw the lines of what Buffett said.  Do you think Buffett didn't do his homework on David Winters' performance before he spoke up?

 

So what? You could make those statements about the lion's share of active managers - doesn't mean anything about the validity of Winters's complaints about KO.

[ni-co]

Classless move.  What Winters charges in fees is known up front and voluntarily entered into.

 

For all of these years that I have followed Buffett, Buffett chooses his words VERY, VERY CARFULLY.  He would never take shots like he did unless the facts are there to back him up.  Read btw the lines of what Buffett said.  Do you think Buffett didn't do his homework on David Winters' performance before he spoke up?

 

So what? You could make those statements about the lion's share of active managers - doesn't mean anything about the validity of Winters's complaints about KO.

 

Buffett didn't say this to defend KO's management compensation but to criticize shareholder activists – and especially Winters. Of course this was also a kind of revenge for Winter's making his critique personal and for keep on going after having lost his fight.

[abitofvalue]

I have only seen clips of the interview and not the whole thing but I thought it was strange to bring in Winters to a question that Bass asked.  Pretty weak specially since Buffett is usually the first to say two wrongs dont make a right. His reasons for opposing Bass' repurchase recomendation were good enough so it was just like he went of on a tangent there... It was like he was itching to go after Winters and so just brought it up when he got a slight opening with Becky's follow-up. 

 

I thought his answer to Harry Wilson's follow-up comment defending himself as being long-term was pretty interesting in the amount of specificity Buffett got to just off the top of head to point out that Wilson was basically being compensated on a 2-yr position so it wasn't long-term. 

[jschembs]

Classless move.  What Winters charges in fees is known up front and voluntarily entered into.

 

For all of these years that I have followed Buffett, Buffett chooses his words VERY, VERY CARFULLY.  He would never take shots like he did unless the facts are there to back him up.  Read btw the lines of what Buffett said.  Do you think Buffett didn't do his homework on David Winters' performance before he spoke up?

 

So what? You could make those statements about the lion's share of active managers - doesn't mean anything about the validity of Winters's complaints about KO.

 

Buffett didn't say this to defend KO's management compensation but to criticize shareholder activists – and especially Winters. Of course this was also a kind of revenge for Winter's making his critique personal and for keep on going after having lost his fight.

 

Hasn't Winters been a thorn in his side vis-a-vis KO? This helps to make Winters seem less credible without directly refuting anything Winters has said.

 

I have no dog in this fight, so I don't really care, I just thought it was an odd attack.

[merkhet]

I have only seen clips of the interview and not the whole thing but I thought it was strange to bring in Winters to a question that Bass asked.  Pretty weak specially since Buffett is usually the first to say two wrongs dont make a right. His reasons for opposing Bass' repurchase recomendation were good enough so it was just like he went of on a tangent there... It was like he was itching to go after Winters and so just brought it up when he got a slight opening with Becky's follow-up. 

 

I thought his answer to Harry Wilson's follow-up comment defending himself as being long-term was pretty interesting in the amount of specificity Buffett got to just off the top of head to point out that Wilson was basically being compensated on a 2-yr position so it wasn't long-term.

 

I can pretty easily see the train of thought from GM, activism, and compensation to Winters.

 

I'm not terribly bothered by the remark. I mean, I don't really think anything he said was out of line.

[VersaillesinNY]

David Winters had a good start, he was mentored by Max Heine and Michael Price.

One of the problem is that he opened his Wintergreen fund prior to the financial debacle.

From 2006-2008, you could spot him on Consuelo Mack wealthtrack and cnbc preaching his optimism on the stock market.

Winters was clearly raising funds and got burned like most of the value shops during the crash.

At Wesco’s annual meetings, he used to ask his lollapalooza questions and played the faithful Munger-Buffett fan.

He seems to be a nice guy although he also seems to have lost it during the Coke compensation drama.

David Winters took it to a personal level and openly criticized Buffett for abstaining during the Coke vote.

After that, his fund sold its entire BRK position. In retrospect, Wintergreen's shareholders got negatively impacted by the sale given BRK strong performance.

Even if Winters doesn’t advocate smoking; I couldn’t invest in his fund due to its permanent large exposure to tobacco companies (18.2% of the portfolio as of Jan 2015) and comfortable management fee.

I think he is making too much noise about Coke while only having 5% or $105 million of his fund invested in the company.

Buffett’s recent comments will adversely impact Wintergreen fund's ability to grow its shareholders base while under performing the market.

David Winters should focus on delivering performance to its remaining shareholders instead of being a pain in the neck (excuse my French).

 

[CorpRaider]

Buffett has been hanging out with Jay-Z too much.  He said "keep my name out yo mouth, Winters."

[brker_guy]

Hasn't Winters been a thorn in his side vis-a-vis KO? This helps to make Winters seem less credible without directly refuting anything Winters has said.

 

I have no dog in this fight, so I don't really care, I just thought it was an odd attack.

 

Have  you heard the phrase, "We eat our own cooking"?  The point that Buffett made is that unless David Winters can earn his keeps with his own performance to earn his fees, he should not be go picking a fight with the KO board and drag Buffett in.  I was in the room in the audience when David made his plea with Buffett, and Buffett had said to David and everyone that he had told the BOD of KO of his thoughts on the compensation and that was that. 

 

I have met David at a few times in Omaha and at Wesco; I think he is a very mild manner, good guy.  I just think his activism with KO took to another level that turned the switch on Buffett. 

 

[peter1234]

“As a longtime shareholder of Berkshire, Mr. Buffett’s words and actions (or more aptly, inactions) regarding Coke’s 2014 equity plan did not sit well with us,” Mr. Winters said in an e-mailed statement.  ”We no longer felt that Warren Buffett was looking out for his shareholders’ interests.  Although Berkshire Hathaway is still a high quality business with a compelling valuation, it no longer met the second principle of our three-pronged investment criteria – management working on behalf of all shareholders.”

 

If anyone is looking out for shareholders, it is Buffett.

I feel Winters got what he asked for.

 

[jschembs]

Hasn't Winters been a thorn in his side vis-a-vis KO? This helps to make Winters seem less credible without directly refuting anything Winters has said.

 

I have no dog in this fight, so I don't really care, I just thought it was an odd attack.

 

Have  you heard the phrase, "We eat our own cooking"?  The point that Buffett made is that unless David Winters can earn his keeps with his own performance to earn his fees, he should not be go picking a fight with the KO board and drag Buffett in.  I was in the room in the audience when David made his plea with Buffett, and Buffett had said to David and everyone that he had told the BOD of KO of his thoughts on the compensation and that was that. 

 

I have met David at a few times in Omaha and at Wesco; I think he is a very mild manner, good guy.  I just think his activism with KO took to another level that turned the switch on Buffett.

 

Actually "eat our own cooking" typically relates to someone fully invested in the fund they're managing. I don't know much about Winters, and again I don't really care either way - he could be totally off-base in his critique of the KO situation - but it was an odd aside in the interview.

[wisdom]

Remember this is the same guy who bought BRK over $0.125.

 

Winters was trying to make a name for himself because Buffett usually does not respond to anything said about him and people use his name to make money/a name for themselves. Wintergreen miscalculated and went too far and now it is coming back to bite him.