No. of Recommendations: 6
It would be very odd if they didn't stay considering they were hired specifically for the purpose of taking over post buffet.
Why they were hired and why they took the jobs might be two different things. For youngish money managers, the opportunity to work with the GOAT was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, like playing ball with Willie Mays, something you tell your grandkids about. Recall the dozens who bid millions just to have lunch with him.
Being in charge of an enormous investment portfolio within a giant conglomerate after the GOAT is gone is rather something else. Not nearly as interesting as managing smaller sums, for example, as Mr. Buffett has pointed out many times. Expected returns are lower than leading managers might otherwise expect, the number of firms eligible for investment of billions or tens of billions is a small subset of the investible universe, and lesser-known companies with the potential to provide outsized returns -- the holy grail of money managers -- can't move the needle.
Being Mr. Buffett's subordinate is an honor. Being anyone else's, for money managers who previously worked for themselves, might be a different prospect.
In the case of Mr. Combs, there is the additional complication of his appointment as CEO of GEICO. Was this a temporary assignment (going on five years now) or a career change?
If you're into reading tea leaves, there was virtually no mention of these guys at an annual meeting focused on the handoff of operational control to Mr. Abel.
One reasonable speculation might be that the seven straight quarters of net selling and the resulting growth in the cash mountain are setting up Mr. Abel for the optionality of making significant acquisitions to grow his home base at BHE.
This is all guesswork, but it would not shock me if Mr. Combs stayed at GEICO and Mr. Weschler hung around for a respectful interval and then found something more interesting to do.
