There must be something coming to our economy soon if he is willing to bet so much on gold.
Gold is currently at all time high so he may alrady have won on it.
Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
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Re: Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
#12Berkshire's public equity holdings are worth about $215bn. The Barrick position represents about 0.25% of that. It really isn't a big deal.
Aside from Buffett, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler each have about $10bn to invest - it is entirely possible that they made this investment without consulting Buffett (they don't have to ask for permission). In the past they've also bought Amazon - another non-Buffett pick.
Re: Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
#13Surprising move from the man who said something along the lines of[1]: "Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or some place. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head." [1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/05/25/bury-gold/
There’s also a difference between buying gold and investing in a gold miner: the former is purely speculative while the latter can provide a stream of income.
Re: Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
#14He's not buying actual gold; he's buying into a gold mining company.
Re: Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
#15Re: Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
#16There must be something coming to our economy soon if he is willing to bet so much on gold.
Or something is coming to Goldman Sachs.
With zero-interest rates and quantitative easing, there is no need for countries to borrow money because they can start printing it. At the same time, China controls more and more business processes which leaves less to companies that operate within Goldman Sachs' merger and acquisition world.
Taken even further, market economies could come to an end because they cannot exist in a world where China can be a loss-leader in every strategically important market. If China is poaching TSMC's engineers [1], what does stop them from doing that to all relevant production processes? Either TSMC and all the other companies need artificial profits to pay more to their engineers or there need to be other barriers. Either way, the importance of markets could decline and so could Goldman Sachs.
Re: Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
#17Surprising move from the man who said something along the lines of[1]: "Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or some place. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head." [1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/05/25/bury-gold/
There's not much utility to many things in daily life if you scrap it to its base components.
It reminds me of the story of how Steve Jobs got John Sculley, then CEO of Pepsi, to join Apple: “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?”
Re: Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
#18Buffett spent the last six months panic selling. "Be fearful when others are fearful" is his new motto. He doesn't have the same political connections he had during the GFC to get in on the sweet government-backed bailout deals this time around.
Re: Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
#19For a gold miner* misleading title
Re: Warren Buffett traded Goldman Sachs for gold
#20Surprising move from the man who said something along the lines of[1]: "Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or some place. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head." [1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/05/25/bury-gold/
not surprising at all. His goal is to make money (legally) so if people drive the price of gold up, he will profit if possible. Very simple.
He will also sell if he thinks it no longer makes investment sense.