"Todd has been called in to fix the issues that probably grew for a long time under beloved CEO Tony Nicely.

Warren for his part probably turned a blind eye to these issues.

The gap for example in IT investment between GEICO and Progressive is enormous. Where was the CEO or Board oversight that saw that free cash flow needed to be invested technological and analytical capabilities in the business rather than funneled up to Omaha?"

When Warren says that he is hands off when it comes to the subs and lets them run the business as they see fit (reputational matters notwithstanding), he genuinely means that. That is for better or for worse. On one hand, it attracts talented CEOs to the subs who enjoy the independence, on the other, occasionally a sub will flounder a little and will need to be cleaned up.

You cannot declare that the subs are given free rein to run their business and then have the board looking over their shoulders telling them how to run the business and invest in technology.

Yes, GEICO is far behind Progressive. That is not a death knell though. The business can be cleaned up and technology improved. That is what makes GEICO such a great business to invest in though. Even when it was falling behind and not investing, it was still putting up profits. Maybe not great profits, but not getting destroyed either.