The literary era since 1979

"Oh, you want to treat me to a meal?"

Under the leadership of Columbia University, Fangyan met with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger with smiles on their faces.

Li Zhi behind him opened her mouth wide, unable to believe her eyes. Mike was also stunned.

Compared with billionaires like Warren Buffett who are on the Forbes rich list, their family seems so "poor".

"Then, it's better to obey orders than to be respectful."

Fangyan smiled. Although the Buffett in front of him was not as famous as the stock god in later generations, and Wang Duoyu and others did not bid a sky-high price for "lunch with Buffett", it was still a good opportunity to talk about investment...

"Teacher Fang."

After more than two hours of translation, Bai Ruoxue's voice was a little hoarse and her face was full of fatigue, so she handed the next task to Li Zhi.

"Okay." Fang Yan nodded and said, "You've worked so hard. Have a good rest."

Hearing this, Li Zhi's heart sank. She immediately felt the pressure on her shoulders increase sharply and took a few deep breaths.

Warren Buffett was full of praise for the lecture, especially the new concepts such as "black swan" and "gray rhino".

“And your book Guns, Viruses, and Steel is really great!”

Charlie Munger added.

Fangyan was very surprised. He originally thought that they should read company financial reports, financial newspapers and magazines, etc., but he didn't expect that they also like to read this.

Warren Buffett laughed, "We can't predict everything, but we keep learning. Although we may not become smarter in a short period of time, wisdom can be accumulated little by little."

"Heroes think alike!"

There was regret in his dialect. "It's a pity that I didn't know about the 50th anniversary lecture of the publication of Security Analysis until I arrived at Columbia University. Otherwise, I would definitely attend and listen to your insights on investment."

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munk looked at each other, "Fang, are you interested in investing too?"

Fang Yan raised his hand and said, "It's just some stock speculation, just a small thing."

Warren Buffett asked: "Can you tell me which stocks you have invested in?"

Charlie Munk listened quietly. Blue chip stocks such as IBM did not arouse his interest. When Fang Yan said that he held a large position in Coca-Cola, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "You said that you have been increasing your holdings in Coca-Cola?"

Fang Yan smiled and said, "Not bad."

"Then do you know that Coca-Cola is now under attack from Pepsi?"

Charlie Munk kindly reminded that in the face of PepsiCo's "superstar offensive", Coca-Cola's stock has been in a long-term slump.

"This is just perfect. Now is the best time to buy at the bottom."

The dialect possesses the best leek gene of "Chinese stock investors", that is -

Others are fearful but I am greedy, others clear their positions but I go all in, others cut their losses but I buy at the bottom, others make a small loss but I go bankrupt, bah bah bah!
"Excuse me, this doesn't seem like investing, but more like speculation," Warren Buffett said bluntly.

"No, this is not speculation, but value investment!" Fangyan said firmly.

When they heard the word "value investing", Warren Buffett and Charlie Munk suddenly became excited.

As a follower of Benjamin Graham, I believe in the concept of "value investing"!
Charlie Munk asked: "Fang, can you tell us why you are so optimistic about the depressed Coca-Cola?"

"It's simple, because I'm from China."

To put it bluntly, in the near future, the Chinese market will be Coca-Cola's reliance.

Warren Buffett was stunned. "I remember now. The cover of Time magazine last month was a Chinese man drinking Coca-Cola. I should remember it correctly, right? Charlie?" Then he cast an inquiring look at Charlie Munk.

"Yes, I have seen such a cover."

Charlie Monk's eyes lit up, "But, Fang, didn't Pepsi also build a production line in your China?"

Fang Yan said: "Although that is true, I personally think that Coca-Cola is more in line with the taste of Chinese people than Pepsi. There is an old Chinese saying, 'If a woman can capture a man's stomach, she can capture his heart'. Similarly, 'If you can capture a man's taste buds, you can capture his wallet'. I believe that if Coca-Cola's advertising and marketing are not wrong, it will definitely be better than Pepsi."

"Now that I hear you say that, I must compare the taste of Pepsi and Coca-Cola at lunch."

Warren Buffett immediately became interested.

Fangyan said confidently: "I believe that in the end, you will like Coca-Cola more."

Warren Buffett didn’t believe it at first, but after taking a sip of Coca-Cola, he immediately found it “really delicious” and couldn’t help but recall:

"I can't remember whether it was 1935 or 1936 when I first drank Coca-Cola."

"But I still remember clearly that starting in 1936, I bought half a dozen cans from grocery stores at 25 cents apiece, and then sold them to neighbors at 5 cents a can. That was the first time I did business in my life, and it was also the first money I made in my life."

“Then why didn’t you invest in Coca-Cola?”

Fangyan asked while cutting steak. Warren Buffett said that although he saw the huge business opportunities behind Coca-Cola and continued to pay attention to it when Coca-Cola swept the world, he was so cautious that he did not buy a single stock. Instead, he invested most of his personal assets in stocks such as taxi companies, textile companies, coal companies, and stamp companies.

Charlie Munk laughed and said, "We call this kind of investment 'picking up cigarette butts'."

"At first, we tried hard to find cigarette butts to smoke, but unfortunately we did find some."

Warren Buffett said helplessly: "It is that free puff of cigarette butt. After enjoying this, we continue to look for the next discarded cigarette butt."

Fangyan said: "I think this is what you did wrong. You should smoke cigars now instead of picking up cigarette butts."

Warren Buffett was stunned, as if there was a layer of window paper that was being poked open, seemingly broken but not quite, with faint signs of being broken.

Charlie Monk asked: "Fang, can you be more specific?"

Fang Yan said: "Shouldn't the purpose of value investing be to buy excellent companies at reasonable prices, rather than buying mediocre companies at cheap prices? Given your current status, shouldn't you invest in real things?"

Warren Buffett pondered for a long time and suddenly realized, "Fang, you are the one who truly grasped the true meaning of Benjamin Graham's investment!"

"Yeah, I never thought you would know so much about investment." Charlie Munk sighed.

Fangyan waved his hand and said that China currently has no stock market or stocks.

Even if there is, given the nature of A-shares, even if Buffett comes, he will be ripped off! Do you know the scallops from Zhangzidao?

"Then you are simply a self-taught investment genius!"

Warren Buffett raised his Coca-Cola and said, "Here's to you!"

"Thank you."

After asking in dialect, I learned that Warren Buffett's "picking up cigarette butts" operation caused him to suffer a lot and suffer a big setback in companies such as the farm machinery company, the third-rate department store and the New England Textile Factory.

"Especially the company I own right now, Berkshire Hathaway."

Warren Buffett's face was full of resentment.

Back then, I held 7% of the shares of this ordinary textile company. The board of directors planned a repurchase. The initially agreed price was US$11.5 per share, but the final bid was US$11.375 per share, a full US$0.125 less per share!

Fuck it! They actually cheated the capitalists out of their money. They have such a bad conscience!
As a result, one of the bosses not only did not sell, but bought heavily and became the largest shareholder without realizing it, controlling the company's board of directors. His average purchase price was US$14.86 per share. As a result, no one took over and the business suffered losses, so he had to bite the bullet and transform himself into an investment company.

"Our final conclusion after reviewing the past is that Berkshire is not only a cigar butt, but also a tasteless cigar butt." Charlie Munk shrugged. "Fortunately, we have done well over the years, making hopeless companies bigger and stronger."

"Thank you for providing me with a good stock."

Fangyan plans to invest heavily while Berkshire Hathaway's share price is only US$16.

Warren Buffett said: "You are giving us a vote of confidence."

Fang Yan half-jokingly said: "If I hold a large number of shares, I wonder if you would welcome me to join the board of directors?"

"You are always welcome! The Berkshire board of directors welcomes people like you who understand the true meaning of Ben Graham's investment!"

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munk smiled at each other.

"cheers!"

Seeing them chatting and laughing, Li Zhi raised her glass a little slowly, with a gleam in her eyes.

Everyone enjoyed the meal and the conversation, and went home in great satisfaction. Before parting ways, Warren Buffett handed over his business card with personal contact information, and Fangyan returned the copy of "Guns, Viruses, and Steel" signed with his name, and they exchanged their books.

Then, he watched Warren Buffett's car slowly drive out of his sight.

"Charlie, I think we should take a serious look at Coca-Cola."

"We were thinking alike."

Charlie Munk, an old man who is extremely optimistic about BYD's future, smiled shrewdly.

"Fang is right. We should buy excellent companies at reasonable prices, rather than buying mediocre companies at cheap prices."

Warren Buffett smiled bitterly and said that in his 20-year investment career, he was often happy because he picked up cigarette butts and other small bargains.

But after Fangyan's reminder, I realized the importance of buying a good company.

Charlie Munk said: "This is true value investing!"

Warren Buffett nodded solemnly: "We really have to thank him very much. We don't know how to repay him."

"How about we be his free salesmen?"

Charlie Munk showed off his copy of Guns, Viruses, and Steel, signed in Dialect.

"Good idea!" Warren Buffett agreed readily, "It just so happens that I will have an exclusive interview with The New Yorker in a few days." (End of this chapter)