Goal for Berkshire Hathaway will be to continue as if Warren Buffett never left, says Thomas Russo
2025-12-31_21-20 • 4m 39s
? (?)
00:00.040
After
60
years
at
the
helm
of
Berkshire
Hathaway,
today
is
Warren
Buffett's
last
day
as
the
company's
CEO.
Joining
us
now
at
Post
9
is
Gordon
Russo
and
Quinn
chairman
and
partner
Thomas
Russo.
Thomas,
great
to
see
you
and
so
Thank
you
glad
you
could
come
in
and
talk
about
this.
? (?)
00:14.080
Of
course,
known
known
Warren
and
been
investor
Yes
for
a
very
long
time
and
uh
we'd
just
love
your
thoughts
initially
on
um
what
do
you
think
changes
tomorrow
if
anything?
With
how
Warren
relates
to
Greg
Abel,
the
Yeah.
current
the
Yeah.
incoming
CEO
CEO
and
and
how
we
should
? (?)
00:31.440
start
to
think
about
the
management
of
the
company
now.
Yeah,
yeah.
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
00:34.000
I
think
I
think
the
goal
will
be
to
continue
as
if
nothing
has
happened,
but
it
has
and
it
it
requires
different
different
relationships
up.
I
think
I
think
Warren
will
remain
active.
Um
ideally
he's
have
a
relationship
with
Warren
uh
with
Warren
would
have
a
relationship
with
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
00:53.840
Greg
much
like
Charlie
had
with
Warren.
And
and
they
were
source
of
information
to
feed
back.
There's
a
great
story
with
Warren
and
Charlie
um
that
on
an
afternoon
end
of
the
summer
weekend
um
Warren
would
deliver
an
idea
to
Charlie
and
Charlie
would
uh
say
Warren
is
the
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
01:12.240
stupidest
idea
I've
ever
heard.
At
least
do
me
a
favor,
go
home
and
and
take
a
look
and
they
come
back
the
next
day
and
they
reverse
the
opinion.
No,
no,
no.
Charlie,
you
were
right.
It's
terrible.
No
Warren
you
were.
In
that
banter
back
and
forth
Sure.
sort
of
surfaces
truth
Um
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
01:27.680
Yeah,
there's
the
core
belief,
you
know,
that
You
You
want
to
find
businesses
that
have
the
capacity
to
reinvest,
they
have
strong
powerful
brands.
They
They
have
management
who
can
take
long-term
bets
which
is
a
scarce
group.
It
tends
to
be
family-run
companies.
They'll
still
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
01:46.320
look
for
family-run
companies,
businesses
where
where
they
can
they
can
make
the
long-term
decisions
and
free
themselves
up
from
Wall
Street.
Yeah.
It's
really
been
the
the
unhinging
of
Berkshire
from
sort
of
Wall
history
requirements
has
really
helped
the
trajectory
of
4
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
02:04.920
million
percent
versus
something
19
of
the
S&P
or
something.
? (?)
02:10.320
When
uh
when
Warren
uh
in
May
did
announce
that
he
would
be
stepping
back
at
the
end
of
the
year,
um
he
still
said,
"You
know,
look,
I'm
going
to
be
there
if
there
are
large
opportunities.
I'll
be
looking.
I'll
be
help
helping
out."
You
get
the
impression
he
was
hopeful
that
? (?)
02:23.640
maybe
there
would
be
one
of
these,
you
know,
big
opportunistic
plays
to
be
made.
Not
yet.
Right.
Um,
what
do
you
make
of
that
and
and
make
of
the
fact
Yes.
that
they've
just
allowed
cash
to
build
up
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
02:35.280
Well,
I
have
to
I
have
to
just
remind
everybody
that
where
the
cash
sits
is
called
assets.
Right.
And
where
the
conversation
exists
is
called
liabilities.
And
and
people
are
walking
around
with
a
big
sack
on
their
back
saying,
"Oh
my,
how
are
we
ever
going
to
unburden
ourselves
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
02:52.400
with
this
liability?"
Yeah,
right.
Well,
the
markets
will
give
them
every
reason
to
unburden
themselves
because
the
market
will
deliver
At
a
time,
when
it's
no
longer
400
billion.
It
feels
like
600
or
700
because
because
what
you're
buying
will
have
will
have
stumbled.
And
and
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
03:11.440
you
you
see
the
ingredients
of
of
stumbling
being
sort
of
assembled
by
extra
leverage
in
the
system
and
and
by
valuation
excesses
in
the
system.
Right.
No,
it
it
it's
across
the
board
thing
things
you
have
to
be
fairly
opportunistic
but
but
the
note
emotion
that
that
$400
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
03:32.320
billion
hoard
is
there
anything
other
than
an
asset
will
be
dismissed
when
when
someone
finds
themselves
in
need
of
money
and
there's
only
one
place
to
go.
Whether
it's
insurance
or
whether
it's
other
services,
they'll
they'll
go
to
warrant
and
the
margins
will
be
fine.
? (?)
03:50.280
So,
you
mentioned
the
family
businesses
and
these
other
companies
that
that
really
seek
to
sell
to
Berkshire
Hathaway.
Is
there
any
risk
that
uh
won't
be
as
much
the
case
if
Warren
himself
is
not
there
eventually?
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
04:04.160
Well,
I
think
I
think
Greg's
been
there
and
then
so
often
proceeds
over
time.
You
know,
it's
not
it
can
be
sort
of
like
sign
of
the
line
right
off
the
bat
but
Yeah
typically
they
get
to
know
each
other.
And
the
ambassador
of
that
interchange
has
been
Greg
increasing.
It's
Thomas Russo (Chairman and Partner)
04:22.080
example
especially
so
in
in
Japan
with
the
with
the
multiple
holding
companies
that
they've
now
invite
a
warrant
into
hold
increasing
amounts
of
their
capital.
Well,
that
that
can
continue
to
evolve
favorably
to
Berkshire
and
increasing
the
capital.
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