The Snowball_ Warren Buffett and the Business of Life - Alice Schroeder [588]
16. Interview with Kevin Clayton.
17. Jim Clayton, Bill Retherford, First a Dream. (Tennessee: FSB Press, 2002.) The 2004 revised edition gives an account of Berkshire Hathaway’s fight for Clayton Homes.
18. Buffett had spent only $50 million in April to purchase PetroChina stock, but that brought Berkshire’s ownership to $488 million and over the limit that required disclosure to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
19. Buffett said he would buy foreign stocks under the right circumstances; e.g., in the United Kingdom or a newspaper in Hong Kong. However, he did not spend time seriously studying foreign stocks until opportunities in the U.S. began to thin.
20. Warren Buffett, “Why I’m Down on the Dollar,” Fortune, November 10, 2003.
21. From unpublished coverage of the 2003 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, courtesy of Outstanding Investor Digest.
22. A major advantage of the deal was Berkshire’s access to and low cost of funds. With its AAA credit rating, it could borrow at a far lower rate than any other manufactured-home maker and thus not only survive credit droughts but make money under conditions where Clayton’s competitors could not survive.
23. Speaking at the New York Public Library, June 25, 2006.
24. Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Buffett May Face a Competing Bid for Clayton Homes,” New York Times, July 11, 2003.
25. “Suit Over Sale of Clayton Homes to Buffett,” New York Times, June 10, 2003. Gray alleged that previous shareholder meetings electing directors had taken place without proper notice. In June the Delaware Chancery Court ruled that Clayton had technically not met the notice requirement, but since the meeting was so well attended by shareholders, the mistake was only technical and results of the meeting would not be overturned.
26. Jennifer Reingold, “The Ballad of Clayton Homes.”
27. At its peak before the death of Susan T. Buffett, the foundation spent $15–$30 million per year in total, mostly on reproductive rights.
28. If Buffett had paid dividends and used them for the donations, the whole point would have been moot.
29. Douglas R. Scott Jr., president, Life Decisions International, letter to Warren Buffett, September 26, 2002.
30. The number came from Cindy Coughlon, a Pampered Chef consultant who organized the boycott. Nicholas Varchaver, “Berkshire Gives Up On Giving: How a Pro-Life Housewife Took On Warren Buffett,” Fortune, August 11, 2003.
31. Compiled from various interviews.
32. Pro-life activists, according to the U.S. National Abortion Federation, have committed 7 murders, attempted 17 other murders, made 388 death threats, kidnapped 4 people, committed 41 bombings, 174 instances of arson, and 128 burglaries, attempted 94 bombings or arsons, made 623 bomb threats, committed 1,306 instances of vandalism, made 656 bioterror threats, and committed 162 instances of assault and battery. These numbers exclude stalking, hoax device/ suspect packages, hate mail, harassing phone calls, trespassing, invasion, Internet harassment, and other less serious incidents. The pro-life movement’s activities have resulted in 37,715 arrests as of 2007. Most mainstream pro-life organizations reject the terrorist wing of the movement, some vocally.
33. Berkshire Hathaway press release, July 15, 2003.
34. Under Delaware law, only shareholders in attendance were eligible to vote on a recess.
35. Jim Clayton, Bill Retherford, First a Dream.
36. Interviews with Kevin Clayton and John Kalec, executive vice president and CFO of Clayton Homes.
37. The suit, filed on July 25 by Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, LLP, initially claimed that Kevin Clayton had asked Janus Capital to continue to support the deal even though it had sold the stock. In court, no evidence of this was found and the case was