Money and Finance
- Buffett Leans On 29-year-old Cool To Oversee Problems
Thanks to Matt for passing this along. When Warren Buffett bought half of a commercial mortgage finance company in 2009, he hired a 25-year-old fresh out of business school to keep tabs on the investment. Since then, Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC has...
- Investors Earn Handsome Paychecks By Handling Buffett's Business
Found via the Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax. Warren Buffett's decision to hire two investment lieutenants is paying off for Berkshire Hathaway, and it's paying off for the two younger money managers, too. Todd Combs, 42, and Ted Weschler,...
- Buffett Reveals Warts As He Prepares Annual Letter
Warren Buffett bought oil stocks near the peak of an energy boom, declined to spend $35 million on a growing television station and swapped a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) stake for a shoe company he later said was worthless. In each case, shareholders...
- A Disciplined And Driven 'connect-the-dots' Investor
Two days ago, Richard "Ted" Weschler was a successful but unsung hedge-fund manager in this city of 43,000 people hundreds of miles from Wall Street. Now, a day after the world learned that Mr. Weschler will be working as one of two investment managers...
- Meet Ted Weschler: Buffett Auction Winner, Berkshire's New Hire - By Carol Loomis
It is surely unprecedented for a person to spend $5,252,722 to get a job, but in a funny way, that is precisely what Ted Weschler, of Charlottesville, Virginia, did. The details, in all their improbability: Warren Buffett announced this morning that Weschler,...
Money and Finance
Weschler Rise From Grace Leads to Role Advising Buffett
Ted Weschler’s first job after college was at chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co. (GRA) In 2007, six years after the company filed for bankruptcy, his hedge fund held 15 percent of the shares. That’s when he called Joe Rice.
Rice, a South Carolina lawyer, represented workers who claimed asbestos products manufactured by Grace had caused cancer and other illnesses. The 158-year-old company, which once owned shipping lines and restaurants, declared bankruptcy in 2001 under the weight of those lawsuits. Rice was at an impasse with the firm when Weschler suggested they meet.
Over a three-hour dinner at Charleston’s Oak Steakhouse, the men started a conversation about resolving the case in a manner that would be fair to workers and shareholders. Weschler picked up the check. His initiative paved the way for a settlement a year later that helped Grace’s stock climb 40-fold since the bankruptcy and an investing record that earned him a job at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/B)
“He understood the issues for my clients weren’t all dollars and cents,” Rice said. “He was a catalyst.”
That ability to find value in distressed companies and cut deals helped Weschler, 51, carve out a role at Omaha, Nebraska- based Berkshire that goes beyond the stock-picking job he was hired for. Since joining Buffett’s firm in January, he has made a bid for a bankrupt mortgage business, negotiated a transaction that pushed Berkshire deeper into newspaper publishing and consulted with the heads of the company’s operating units.
- Buffett Leans On 29-year-old Cool To Oversee Problems
Thanks to Matt for passing this along. When Warren Buffett bought half of a commercial mortgage finance company in 2009, he hired a 25-year-old fresh out of business school to keep tabs on the investment. Since then, Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC has...
- Investors Earn Handsome Paychecks By Handling Buffett's Business
Found via the Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax. Warren Buffett's decision to hire two investment lieutenants is paying off for Berkshire Hathaway, and it's paying off for the two younger money managers, too. Todd Combs, 42, and Ted Weschler,...
- Buffett Reveals Warts As He Prepares Annual Letter
Warren Buffett bought oil stocks near the peak of an energy boom, declined to spend $35 million on a growing television station and swapped a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) stake for a shoe company he later said was worthless. In each case, shareholders...
- A Disciplined And Driven 'connect-the-dots' Investor
Two days ago, Richard "Ted" Weschler was a successful but unsung hedge-fund manager in this city of 43,000 people hundreds of miles from Wall Street. Now, a day after the world learned that Mr. Weschler will be working as one of two investment managers...
- Meet Ted Weschler: Buffett Auction Winner, Berkshire's New Hire - By Carol Loomis
It is surely unprecedented for a person to spend $5,252,722 to get a job, but in a funny way, that is precisely what Ted Weschler, of Charlottesville, Virginia, did. The details, in all their improbability: Warren Buffett announced this morning that Weschler,...