Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
Warren Buffett, the "Oracle of Omaha" and leader of Berkshire Hathaway, is a long-time value investor, a mega Coca-Cola consumer, and avid ukulele player. He's also apparently a country music fan.
Advertisement
Over two decades of Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder letters, Buffett has used song lyrics to describe his feelings around an event or deal that occurred during the year many times. In fact, there are only a handful of years where Buffett doesn't mention a song lyric or title in an annual shareholder letter.
Of the 10 songs identified by Markets Insider that Buffett references in his annual shareholder letters from 1995 to present, only two aren't country.
One is "Some Enchanted Evening" by Richard Rodgers, a famous song from "South Pacific," the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. The other is "Where or When," by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.
Buffett also references some songs multiple times. His favorite lyric to call upon is "When the phone don't ring, you'll know it's me," from a similarly titled song by George Jones. He uses the lyric to express "our feelings about new ventures, turnarounds, or auction-like sales," which has been a part of the company's acquisition criteria since at least 1995.
Advertisement
Even when song lyrics or titles aren't directly referenced, it's clear Buffett is a country music fan. In the 1996 annual shareholder letter, and a handful of letters since, he talked about the genre in trying to "reverse engineer" the future.
"Inverting really works: Try singing country western songs backwards and you will quickly regain your house, your car and your wife," he wrote.
Here are the 10 songs that Buffett has called upon in annual shareholder letters over the last two decades, plus what the song was in reference to.
1. "When your phone don't ring (it'll be me)" - George Jones
Year: 1995-present (in Acquisition Criteria)
Context:
"A line from a country song expresses our feeling about new ventures, turnarounds, or auction-like sales: 'When the phone don't ring, you'll know it's Me.'"
2. "How can I miss you when you won't go away" - Dan Hicks
Year: 1997
Context:
"Two years ago, I gave you an update on the five convertible preferreds that we purchased through private placements in the 1987-1991 period. At the time of that earlier report, we had realized a small profit on the sale of our Champion International holding. The four remaining preferred commitments included two, Gillette and First Empire State, that we had converted into common stock in which we had large unrealized gains, and two others, USAir and Salomon, that had been trouble-prone. At times, the last two had me mouthing a line from a country song: 'How can I miss you if you won't go away?'"
3. "Where or when" - Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
Year: 1999
Context:
"Berkshire will someday have opportunities to deploy major amounts of cash in equity markets — we are confident of that. But, as the song goes, 'Who knows where or when?'
"Meanwhile, if anyone starts explaining to you what is going on in the truly-manic portions of this 'enchanted' market, you might remember still another line of song: 'Fools give you reasons, wise men never try.'"
4. "Some Enchanted Evening" - Richard Rodgers
Year: 1999
Context:
"Berkshire will someday have opportunities to deploy major amounts of cash in equity markets — we are confident of that. But, as the song goes, 'Who knows where or when?'
"Meanwhile, if anyone starts explaining to you what is going on in the truly-manic portions of this 'enchanted' market, you might remember still another line of song: 'Fools give you reasons, wise men never try.'"
5. "Wish I didn't know now" - Toby Keith
Year: 2002
Context:
"When I review the reserving errors that have been uncovered at General Re, a line from a country song seems apt: 'I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.'"
6. "My wife ran off with my best friend and I sure do miss him" - Wayne Carter
Year: 2005
Context:
"When we finally wind up Gen Re Securities, my feelings about its departure will be akin to those expressed in a country song, 'My wife ran away with my best friend, and I sure miss him a lot.'"
7. "I've never gone to bed with an ugly woman" - Bobby Bare
Year: 2007
Context:
"To date, Dexter is the worst deal that I've made. But I'll make more mistakes in the future – you can bet on that. A line from Bobby Bare's country song explains what too often happens with acquisitions: 'I've never gone to bed with an ugly woman, but I've sure woke up with a few.'"
8. "I liked you better before I knew you so well" - James Allen Hall
Year: 2008
Context:
"When Berkshire purchased General Re in 1998, we knew we could not get our minds around its book of 23,218 derivatives contracts, made with 884 counterparties (many of which we had never heard of). So we decided to close up shop. Though we were under no pressure and were operating in benign markets as we exited, it took us five years and more than $400 million in losses to largely complete the task.
"Upon leaving, our feelings about the business mirrored a line in a country song: 'I liked you better before I got to know you so well.'"
9. "Every storm (runs out of rain)" - Gary Allan
Year: 2012
Context:
"There was a lot of hand-wringing last year among CEOs who cried 'uncertainty' when faced with capital allocation decisions (despite many of their businesses having enjoyed record levels of both earnings and cash). At Berkshire, we didn't share their fears, instead spending a record $9.8 billion on plant and equipment in 2012, about 88% of it in the United States. That's 19% more than we spent in 2011, our previous high.
"Charlie and I love investing large sums in worthwhile projects, whatever the pundits are saying. We instead heed the words from Gary Allan's new country song,'Every Storm Runs Out of Rain.'"
10. "She got the goldmine (I got the shaft)" - Jerry Reed
Year: 2014
Context:
"The first is sale to a competitor who is salivating at the possibility of wringing 'synergies' from the combining of the two companies. This buyer invariably contemplates getting rid of large numbers of the seller's associates, the very people who have helped the owner build his business. A caring owner, however – and there are plenty of them – usually does not want to leave his long-time associates sadly singing the old country song: 'She got the goldmine, I got the shaft.'"
