Self-Published·27 FEB 2009
Buffett's 2008 Letter Spends Three Pages Telling Shareholders What He Got Wrong
Buffett doesn't apologize for the loss. He apologizes for the analysis. Those are different things and most CEOs conflate them.
Reproduction of page 3 of the Berkshire Hathaway 2008 Letter to Shareholders, dated 27 February 2009 — the section where Buffett enumerates his errors of the year.
Excerpt · In Warren Buffett's own words
I made some errors of omission, sucking my thumb when new facts came in that should have caused me to re-examine my thinking and promptly take action.
Furthermore, I made some real doozies. Without urging from Charlie or anyone else, I bought a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak. I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year. I still believe the odds are good that oil sells far higher in the future than the current $40-$50 price. But so far I have been dead wrong.
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How this surfaced
- Source type
- Self-Published
- Case / record
- Berkshire Hathaway 2008 Annual Report
- Citation
- Berkshire Hathaway Letter to Shareholders, dated 27 February 2009
- Date authored
- February 27, 2009
- License
- Publicly issued by the author
- Original
- View the primary source →
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