Dooker
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- Apr 19, 2007
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NetJets Buffet Bearish on His Fractional
‘We All Make Mistakes’
From Investor’s Hedge Fund Derivative Weekly
OMAHA-In an abrupt about-face, Warren Buffet told Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting here this past week that he was “way, and I mean way way” overly optimistic when he decided to get involved in the fractional jet business.
“Hey, we all make mistakes,” Buffet told the shareholders. “I never had any idea what a cluster this industry really was. Now I see what all my friends warned me about. Everywhere I go I see our pilots just sitting around, eating crew meal after crew meal, talking on their cell phones, downloading porn onto their laptops. Do we really need all these guys? I mean, come on.”
Buffet went on to say that a study he had commissioned several months earlier determined that, on average, NetJets pilots consume almost three times as many calories as they expend on any given duty day.
“If we’re looking for a place to cut, I’d say crew meals are as good a place to start as any,” Buffet said. “Some of these guys are the biggest chow-hogs you’ll ever lay eyes on.”
On the other hand, Buffet added, allowing his massively underworked pilot force to gorge might be the wisest move, given the slowing global economy and the inevitable need to trim pilot ratios down to a more workable and realistic level.
“If enough of these guys keel over from heart attacks, it might at least help attrition keep pace with fleet shrinkage,” he said.
‘We All Make Mistakes’
From Investor’s Hedge Fund Derivative Weekly
OMAHA-In an abrupt about-face, Warren Buffet told Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting here this past week that he was “way, and I mean way way” overly optimistic when he decided to get involved in the fractional jet business.
“Hey, we all make mistakes,” Buffet told the shareholders. “I never had any idea what a cluster this industry really was. Now I see what all my friends warned me about. Everywhere I go I see our pilots just sitting around, eating crew meal after crew meal, talking on their cell phones, downloading porn onto their laptops. Do we really need all these guys? I mean, come on.”
Buffet went on to say that a study he had commissioned several months earlier determined that, on average, NetJets pilots consume almost three times as many calories as they expend on any given duty day.
“If we’re looking for a place to cut, I’d say crew meals are as good a place to start as any,” Buffet said. “Some of these guys are the biggest chow-hogs you’ll ever lay eyes on.”
On the other hand, Buffet added, allowing his massively underworked pilot force to gorge might be the wisest move, given the slowing global economy and the inevitable need to trim pilot ratios down to a more workable and realistic level.
“If enough of these guys keel over from heart attacks, it might at least help attrition keep pace with fleet shrinkage,” he said.