The Snowball_ Warren Buffett and the Business of Life - Alice Schroeder [524]
15. In Security Analysis, Principles, and Technique (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1934), Benjamin Graham and Dodd stressed that there is no single definition of “intrinsic value,” which depends on earnings, dividends, assets, capital structure, terms of the security, and “other” factors. Since estimates are always subjective, the main consideration, they wrote—always—is the margin of safety.
16. The apt analogy to Plato’s cave was originally made by Patrick Byrne.
17. Often this was because the kind of undervalued stocks he liked were illiquid and could not be purchased in large positions. But Buffett felt that Graham could have followed a bolder strategy.
18. Interview with Jack Alexander.
19. Interview with Bill Ruane.
20. Interviews with Jack Alexander, Bill Ruane.
21. Schloss, in his memoir, wrote with warm affection of his wife, Louise, who “battled depression throughout her entire adult life.” They remained married for fifty-three years, until she died in 2000.
22. Interview with Walter Schloss.
Chapter 18
1. Mary Monen, sister of Dan Monen, who would later become his lawyer.
2. Susie’s parents were friends of Howard and Leila Buffett, but their children attended different schools, so they did not socialize.
3. Interview with Roberta Buffett Bialek. Susie was born June 15, 1932. Bertie was born November 15, 1933.
4. Earl Wilson was the saloon writer for the New York Post. In describing Newsday scribe Jimmy Breslin, Media Life Magazine defined a saloon writer as the purveyor of “a certain style of journalism that’s peculiar to New York, and a bit peculiar in itself, where the writer journeys about the places where ordinary people can be found and writes of their visions of the human condition.”
5. A well-known women-only residence still in operation today (at 419 W. 34th Street in New York City).
6. Vanita, in a Valentine letter to Warren, February 1991, poses the possibility that she “never liked cheese sandwiches and that I just ate them to please.” (In this letter, as at some other times, she spells her middle name “May” instead of “Mae” as in her youth.)
7. This description came from various letters from Vanita, reminiscing about her dates with Warren—January 1, 1991, February 19, 1991, January 1, 1994, many undated; Buffett agrees.
8. Susan Thompson Buffett, as told to Warren Buffett in 2004. He does not remember this but adds that, of course, he wouldn’t.
9. Buffett says that, despite her antics, he was never intimidated by Vanita. “I wouldn’t have had the guts to stick Pudgy in a wastebasket,” he says. “I mean, she’d have beaten the hell out of me.” For her part, Vanita later claimed to Fred Stanback that the incident never happened—although she did have some incentive to downplay the histrionic side of her personality to Fred.
10. As Charlie Munger puts it, Buffett narrowly missed a disastrous marriage when he “escaped the clutches of Vanita.”
11. “A Star Is Born?” Associated Press, Town & Country magazine, September 24, 1977.
12. Information on William Thompson comes from a variety of sources, including interviews with Warren, Roberta, and Doris Buffett and other family members, and “Presbyterian Minister Reviews Thompson Book,” Omaha World-Herald, January 5, 1967; “Old ‘Prof’ Still Feels Optimistic About Younger Generation,” Omaha World-Herald, March 28, 1970; “W. H. Thompson, Educator, Is Dead,” Omaha World-Herald, April 7, 1981; “O.U. Alumni Honor Dean,” Omaha World-Herald, May 15, 1960.
13. As supervisor of the school system’s IQ testing, Doc Thompson had access to and, according to Buffett, knew Warren’s IQ. Indeed, the IQ test results for the three little Buffetts may have intrigued him, given their remarkably high—and remarkably similar—scores.
14. In an interview, Marge Backhus Turtscher, who attended these services, wondered what on earth motivated Thompson to make the long trip each Sunday to preach at this tiny church. Thompson also once published a book, The Fool Has Said God Is Dead. Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1966.
15. Susan Thompson