Protecting Life's Work: Buffett's Acquisition of OXY

August 7, 2022

We’re at a wonderful steak dinner in a nice restaurant.  You can hear the wine glasses clinking, the silverware clattering.  Laughter fills the room, along with hushed voices and soft whispers said with smiles.  It's a beautiful night with a gentle breeze coming off of the ocean, and I’m enjoying a nice little gathering, catching-up with friends.  Coincidentally they're also fellow investors, and they're sharing war stories in the markets, thoughts about the world, the economy and families.  

It's another snapshot of those moments in life that remind you of why we're in this game in the first place.   

Then he says it.

He says it in response to valuations, specifically about commodity companies. I forget exactly what we were talking, but the words still ring clearly in my mind . . . "why would you ever pay more than 6x for a commodity producer in a cyclical industry."  

He said it.