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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Warren Buffett named Greg Abel, 61, as his successor at Berkshire Hathaway back in 2021.</li><li>Abel started out as an accountant, before taking the reins as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/who-is-warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-stocks-investing-wealth-philanthropy-2023-5">Warren Buffett</a> may be synonymous with Berkshire Hathaway, but the 93-year-old has long identified his successor.That person is <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/greg-abel-profile-background-warren-buffett-successor-berkshire-hathaway-ceo-2021-5-1030380049">Greg Abel</a>, 61. The Canadian businessman is currently chair of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and vice chair for non-insurance operations at Berkshire Hathaway.In 2021, Buffett told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/when-warren-buffett-eventually-steps-down-as-berkshire-hathaway-ceo-greg-abel-will-succeed-him.html">CNBC</a> that Abel was his heir apparent."The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who'd take over tomorrow morning," Buffett told CNBC's Becky Quick then.And now, with the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/charlie-munger-death-business-finance-reactions-2023-11">passing of Buffett's longtime business partner Charlie Munger</a> on Tuesday, Abel might just find himself in the spotlight more often.<h2>From accountant to Berkshire acolyte</h2>Abel graduated with a degree in commerce from the University of Alberta in 1984. In 2013, Abel spoke to his <a target="_blank" href="https://issuu.com/ualbertaalumni/docs/ntissuuautumn2013">alma mater's alumni magazine</a> about his passion for accounting."I started with a stronger interest in finance but accounting took over when I came to realize how critically important it was to understand things such as income and cash flow statements," said Abel, who started his career working at PricewaterhouseCoopers.In 1992, the certified public accountant joined geothermal-electricity producer, CalEnergy. CalEnergy would later acquire MidAmerican Energy in 1999, adopting the latter's name in the process.Abel found himself in Buffett's orbit when Berkshire Hathaway bought a controlling interest in MidAmerican Energy that same year. Abel took over the reins of MidAmerican in 2008, which was renamed Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2014.Abel's tenure as Berkshire Hathaway Energy's CEO would last for two decades until he stepped down in 2018. He is currently chair of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and has been on the company's board since 2000.In 2018, Abel got a seat on Berkshire Hathway's board and was named vice chair of the conglomerate's non-insurance operations.<h2>A better Warren Buffett</h2>Abel has been well-regarded amongst his Berkshire colleagues, including Buffett's late right-hand man, Charlie Munger."Greg is just sensational at being a business leader, both as a thinker and as a doer," <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/charlie-munger-buffett-berkshire-musk-tesla-byd-crypto-alibaba-ai-2023-2?_gl=1*gstz0j*_ga*MTcxMTUxODY3LjE3MDA1Mjc5MjA.*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcwMTIzMjYyNy4yMy4xLjE3MDEyMzI3NzYuNjAuMC4w">Munger said of Abel</a> during this year's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. "He's also just a tremendous learning machine — you can argue that he's just as good as Warren at learning all kinds of things.""There's some things he's better at than Warren is, and Warren knows that, and he just keeps dumping on Greg everything that Greg can do better, and that's a lot," Munger continued.Munger was once tipped as a potential successor by Buffett, though the latter said he had to pass on Munger in favor of someone younger, per an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2006ltr.pdf">annual shareholder letter</a> from 2007.Buffett wrote about the company's future in a recent <a target="_blank" href="https://berkshirehathaway.com/news/nov2123.pdf">press release</a> on November 21."Berkshire – one of the largest and most diversified companies in the world – will inevitably encounter human errors in judgment and behavior. These occur at all large organizations, public or private. But these mistakes are unlikely to be serious at Berkshire and will be acknowledged and corrected," Buffett said in the press release."We have the right CEO to succeed me and the right Board of Directors as well. Both are needed," Buffett added.Representatives for Abel did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Meet Greg Abel, Warren Buffett's successor and heir apparent to Berkshire Hathaway

<ul><li>"Fear is the most contagious disease you can imagine. It makes the virus look like a piker," <keyword id="6358963" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Warren-Buffett">Warren Buffett</keyword>, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said.</li><li>Buffet's net worth is an estimated $72 billion, and his investment firm has a cash pile of $137 billion.</li><li>Buffett's view, and it is hard to disagree with it, the worst of the coronavirus impact on the global economy and markets may not be over yet.</li></ul>"Fear is the most contagious disease you can imagine. It makes the virus look like a piker," Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and more importantly an iconic investor said. "I don’t believe anybody knows what the market is going to do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year,” he added. The words are from a man whose net worth is an estimated $72 billion, and his investment firm has a cash pile of $137 billion, but the New York Times headline read <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/business/dealbook/warren-buffett-coronavirus-cash.html" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">'Buffett isn't buying anything'</a>. When that happens, whatever one is holding may seem like an excess that should be gotten rid of immediately. The picture of global markets this Monday is a reflection of that quaking feeling inside every trader and investor. <table style="width: 253pt;"> </colgroup> <tbody><tr> <td class="xl64" style="height:15.0pt;width:75pt">Index</td> <td class="xl65" style="border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none; width: 102pt;">Country</td> <td class="xl66" style="border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none; width: 76pt;">Monday, May 4</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xl67" style="height: 15pt; border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none;">Sensex</td> <td class="xl63" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">India</td> <td class="xl68" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">-5.94%</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xl67" style="height: 15pt; border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none;">Hang Seng</td> <td class="xl63" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">Hong Kong</td> <td class="xl68" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">-4.18%</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xl67" style="height: 15pt; border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none;">CAC 40</td> <td class="xl63" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">France</td> <td class="xl68" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">-4.17%</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xl67" style="height: 15pt; border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none;">DAX</td> <td class="xl63" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">Germany</td> <td class="xl68" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">-3.34%</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xl67" style="height: 15pt; border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none;">Nikkei 225</td> <td class="xl63" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">Japan</td> <td class="xl68" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">-2.84%</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xl69" style="height: 15.75pt; border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none;">Dow Jones</td> <td class="xl70" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">US</td> <td class="xl71" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">-0.87%</td> </tr></tbody></table> Buffett may be known as one of the wisest investors who is willing to endure the cost of holding on to cash for long periods of time, without the FOMO (fear of missing out). Berkshire didn't buy a single stock since March 10 except for those of itself. However, his firm <keyword id="124884" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Berkshire-Hathway">Berkshire Hathway</keyword> clocked a record loss of nearly $50 billion⁠— at a time when the global economy was still functioning for more than two out of thethree months in question. Buffett's view, and it is hard to disagree with it, the worst of the coronavirus impact on the global economy and markets may not be over yet. The lesson for investors in India To put it in the Indian context, India's largest consumer firm Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the subsidiary of the famed British-Dutch multinational giant, clocked <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/hul-fourth-quarter-earnings-report-volume-growth-and-share-price-chart/articleshow/75472021.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">a 7% contraction in sale volumes</a> between January and March 2020. India only shut down its economy on March 25; shops were open for nearly the entire quarter except for the last week. Even after that, people were hoarding, panic buying essentials every few days as the lockdown continued to extend, and is now scheduled to end on May 17. If one week's lockdown could cause a 7% fall in volume growth, investors fear about what six weeks can do. Investors in HUL lost nearly $3.5 billion in a single as the stock slumped nearly 5% on May 4. <div type="image" title="HUL share price." msid="75539651" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Source: BSE&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Side note: the plight of HUL also shows is that the Indian economy wasn't in great shape even before coronavirus struck. HUL is just one example — though a stock that is considered to be among the safest bets because people will never stop buying soaps, shampoos, and detergent⁠— the others where human discretion is a factor, in sectors like cars, travel and tourism, luxury items like watches and even credit cards, one would dread to think of what the April-June quarter may look like. As Buffett put it, "our airline position was a mistake. Berkshire is worth less today because I took that position than if I hadn't." And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have changed the industry forever. <table style="width: 177pt;"> </colgroup> <tbody><tr> <td class="xl65" style="height:15.0pt;width:75pt">Airline stock</td> <td class="xl67" style="border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none; width: 102pt;">4-May</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15pt; border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none;">Indigo</td> <td class="xl66" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">-6.86%</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15pt; border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none;">SpiceJet</td> <td class="xl66" style="border-top-width: initial; border-top-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-left-style: none;">-4.91%</td> </tr></tbody></table> Even if one were to invest in Berkshire, without having to figure out the best bet themselves, the stock was down 19% for the year so far until Friday (May 1). This is the same stock that has gained by an <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/04/16/this-stock-has-averaged-a-20-annual-return-since-1.aspx">average of 20.3% per year</a> for 55 long years until the end of 2019. Is it funny that many self-proclaimed students of Buffett ⁠— who either read his books or even his quotes off the internet ⁠— made money in April when the 'Oracle of Omaha' sat on sidelines watching? Or is it scary? SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/sbi-share-price-and-hdfc-bank-share-value-comparison/articleshow/75535265.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">SBI, India's largest bank, is only worth a third of HDFC Bank — and the COVID-19 lockdown is making it bleed even more</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/half-of-maharashtras-workforce-went-to-work-during-lockdown-as-per-googles-community-mobility-report/articleshow/75531171.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Google’s mobility report reveals that nearly half of Maharashtra’s workforce went to work despite Coronavirus lockdown</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/hero-moto-is-set-to-restart-3-of-its-plants-and-heres-a-checklist-for-employees/articleshow/75528878.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Hero Moto is set to restart 3 of its plants — and here's a checklist for employees</a>

When Warren Buffett feels 'fear', global markets quake

Let’s face it folks global markets have turned into the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYj2m1yVpGU" target="_blank">Truman Show</a>.
In other words, much, if not, everything is pretty much fake. An artificial housing recovery based on repressed interest rates and the effective nationalism of the mortgage market and an artificial stock market rally based on quantitative easing. The artificial wealth is, once again, creating, albeit just barely, fake and temporary demand.
Most of the private sector, twice burned by the stock and housing bubbles, can see right through it and refuse to expand capacity. Witness tepid economic growth, at best, even with the enormous fiscal and monetary stimulus.
Did you ever think in your wildest imagination that the printing money would become virtuous? That in our zero interest rate world one of the fast growing group of millionaires would be retired government workers with defined benefit pensions (present value of retirement payments)?
So with that introduction and <keyword id="32137" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Anne-Hathaway">Anne Hathaway</keyword> taking home the Oscar tonight for best actress in a supporting role we repost a piece from a few years back.
*******************************************************************************
Does Anne Hathaway Drive Berkshire Stock?
Posted on <a href="http://macromon.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/does-anne-hathaway-drive-berkshire-stock/" title="2:59 PM">March 19, 2011</a> by <a href="http://macromon.wordpress.com/author/macromon/" title="View all posts by macromon">macromon</a>
<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div>Macromon</td></tr></table>We posted last October <a href="http://macromon.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/all-things-correlated-stunning-aussiesp-500-relationship/" target="_blank">our suspicions</a> that algo/robo traders were driving the almost tick-for-tick correlation between the Australian dollar and the S&amp;P500. Remember those days of great fun?
<a href="http://macromon.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/the-oscar-trade-long-berkshire-hathaway-on-annes-oscar/anne-berkshire-hathaway-4/"></a>Now, the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/03/does-anne-hathaway-news-drive-berkshire-hathaways-stock/72661/" target="_blank">Atlantic suspects</a> that algorithms may, and we stress may, have been written and programmed to buy <keyword id="6362665" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Berkshire-Hathaway">Berkshire Hathaway</keyword> (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=BRK-A+Interactive#symbol=BRK-A;range=" target="_blank">BRK-A</a>) stock when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Hathaway_%28actress%29" target="_blank">Anne Hathaway</a> is mentioned in the news! Alexis Madrigal of <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/03/does-anne-hathaway-news-drive-berkshire-hathaways-stock/72661/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a> writes,
A couple weeks ago, Huffington Post blogger Dan Mervish noted a funny trend: when Anne Hathaway was in the news, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s shares went up. He pointed to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-mirvish/the-hathaway-effect-how-a_b_830041.html">six dates going back to 2008</a> to show the correlation. Mervish then suggested a mechanism to explain the trend: “automated, robotic trading programming are picking up the same chatter on the Internet about ‘Hathaway’ as the IMDb’s StarMeter, and they’re applying it to the stock market.”
The idea seems ridiculous. But the more I thought about the strange behavior of algorithmic trading systems and the news that <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/twitter-crystal-ball">Twitter sentiment analysis could be used</a> by stock market analysts and the fact that many computer programs are simply looking for tradeable correlations, I really started to wonder if Mervish’s theory was plausible.
Madrigal checked in with John Bates, former Cambridge computer whiz whose company <a href="http://web.progress.com/en/index.html" target="_blank">Progress Software</a> writes algo strategies for hedge funds to ask, “Is this at all possible? Bates, to his surprise, answered “Maybe.”
We come across all sorts of strange things in our line of business, strange correlations,” Bates told me. “And I’ve had a lot of interest in this for a long time because it’s really often the secret source for certain hedge funds.”
Companies are trying to “correlate everything against everything,” he explained, and if they find something that they think will work time and again, they’ll try it out. The interesting, thing, though, is that it’s all statistics, removed from the real world. It’s not as if a hedge fund’s computers would spit the trading strategy as a sentence: “When Hathway news increases, buy Berkshire Hathaway.” In fact, traders won’t always know why their algorithms are doing what they’re doing. They just see that it’s found some correlation and it’s betting on Buffett’s company.
Algo/robo trading appears to becoming not only more bizarre, desperate and reaching the level of the absurd. Imagine a program, for example, written to sell 10K S&amp;P500 futures contracts in illiquid market on the news of a report of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect" target="_blank">butterfly</a> flapping its wings at home plate at Wrigley Field momentarily interrupting a Cubs game. The selling drives the index down 2 percent. Another program written to sell several thousand contracts when the index moves down 2 percent in, say, a 45 second time period then kicks in, driving the index down another 3 percent. Several thousand other programs are written to sell several thousand more contracts when the market is down 5 percent. A <a href="http://www.ecopolis.org/edward-lorenz-does-the-flap-of-a-butterflys-wings-in-brazil-set-off-a-tornado-in-texas/" target="_blank">tornado on Wall Street</a> set off by the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Chicago? Hey, don’t entirely discount such a scenario. This is probably not far from what happened during last year’s “Robots Gone Wild” flash crash which was kicked off by the bank burning Greek riots.
At least we have some theories behind our correlations, such as the <a href="http://macromon.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/hang-seng-index-indicator-species-for-global-risk/" target="_blank">Hang Seng</a> as an indicator species for global risk appetite. And we did make some money once buying Callaway (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=ELY+Interactive#chart1:symbol=ely;range=1y;indicator=sma;charttype=candlestick;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=1;logscale=on;source=undefined" target="_blank">ELY</a>), the proud sponsor of Phil Mickelson, the Friday before he won his first Masters.
But good luck trying to trade against this type of nonsense. We also wonder if the robot has been reprogrammed to sell rather than buy Nike (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=NKE+Interactive#chart1:symbol=nke;range=5y;indicator=sma;charttype=candlestick;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=1;logscale=on;source=undefined" target="_blank">NKE</a>) after Tiger’s downfall when he is now mentioned in the news. As they say on the newly paved <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://wallstreetpost.com/images/wall-street.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://wallstreetpost.com/&amp;h=324&amp;w=432&amp;sz=142&amp;tbnid=icUKhIRrg4KFqM:&amp;tbnh=95&amp;tbnw=126&amp;prev=/images%3Fq%3DWall%2BStreet&amp;zoom=1&amp;q=Wall+Street&amp;hl=en&amp;usg=___WCN7glkKM2Fja4LmntKe31bnDo=&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=sSeFTYL8FJHEsAOI8IHmAQ&amp;ved=0CHUQ9QEwCg" target="_blank">Street</a>, just go with the flow algo!
**********************************************************************************
Welcome to the Truman Show! Someday Truman is going to find out he lives in a fake world. Won’t that be fun?
(click <a href="https://macromon.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/the-oscar-trade-long-berkshire-hathaway-on-annes-oscar/" target="_blank">here</a> if table and picture are not observable)
 <a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/macromon.wordpress.com/20915/"></a>
Read more posts on <a href="http://macromon.wordpress.com/">Global Macro Monitor »</a>

According To The Berkshire-Anne Hathaway Indicator, Warren Buffett Will Have A Good Day

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk is breaking ground as a pro-Trump megadonor.</li><li>While he may not donate the most money this cycle, Musk is behaving unlike any of the uber wealthy Americans before him.</li></ul>America has never seen a megadonor quite like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-campaign-trail-pennsylvania-donald-trump-key-swing-state-2024-10">Elon Musk</a>.On Thursday, the world's richest man held a town hall event in Pennsylvania, the largest swing state in the 2024 race. The Tesla CEO has pledged to hold more events to promote former President Donald Trump's election. Musk has also seeded at least<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-trump-america-super-pac-2024-10"> $75 million</a> into a pro-Trump super PAC. His pro-Trump group, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-trump-america-pac-targets-young-men-vote-2024-9">America PAC</a>, even offers to pay people $47 if they get supporters to sign a petition, which in turn gives the outside group valuable data on potential swing voters. On Friday, Musk upped the offer even further, pledging $100 for every Pennsylvania voter."Elon Musk is sort of a natural for Donald Trump, " journalist Roger Lowenstein, who wrote a biography about Warren Buffett, told Business Insider.Musk, despite his $247 billion estimated net worth, isn't the biggest donor this presidential election cycle. According to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/top_donors">OpenSecrets</a>, among disclosed donors, that title belongs to banking heir <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-timothy-mellon-robert-kennedy-donald-trump-billionaire-2024-6">Timothy Mellon</a>, who has spent a staggering $165 million on boosting Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (We won't know the full extent of 2024 donations until after the election, and that excludes so-called "dark money" groups, which, unlike super PACs, do not have to disclose their donors.)But where Musk stands out is among the richest of the rich. While there have been plenty of wealthy mega-donors -- the Koch brothers, the Adelsons, Michael Bloomberg, and others have spent hundreds of millions on super PACs -- the men who recently preceded Musk as the wealthiest American and the world's richest person have not been nearly as involved. Musk is taking a far different tact than Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett."The richest man in the world fluctuates over time but not all of them have been able or even wanted to spend money in politics in the past four presidential elections," Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a law professor at Stetson University, who has studied big money in politics, told Business Insider.Lowenstein pointed out how even Musk's temperament differs exceptionally from someone like Buffett."Warren just couldn't be more different," Lowenstein said. "This isn't affected by the fact that Warren was measured to be the richest person in the world. He is very careful about what he says. He does not like personal confrontations. He has always been fascinated by the pragmatic issues of policy. He doesn't get out there and say, you know, so and so is running the country or all the name-calling that is the political system these days. It's just not his bag."Even Musk has changed. Before this cycle, the largest single political donation he had ever given was $75,000 to Californians for Clean Alternative Energy in 2006. His final 2024 total is already more than 1,000 times that.<div type="image" title="Elon Musk with former president Donald Trump" height="2633" width="3949" msid="114397395" hostid="261" sizebytes="148502"></div>It remains to be seen what the South African-born tech titan has in store, but already he is showing an openness to rely on his fortune and his businesses in distinct ways the other three have not.Just look at how Musk has shaped X, formerly known as Twitter. It begins with his own account, which has roughly 202 million followers.Musk, who once said he voted for Barack Obama, has pushed memes and misinformation on the platform as he's become increasingly vocal about his views. He also lifted bans on Trump and other right-wing voices. According to The New York Times, X blocked links to a report with hacked information about Sen. JD Vance, Trump's running mate, after the Trump campaign reached out. Recently, Musk's company seized the @America handle to boost his super PAC.In the post-<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citizens-united-supreme-court-precedent-political-hypocricy-desantis-disney-feud-2023-4">Citizens United</a> world, the nation's billionaires have dug deep to support outside organizations whose ad spending blitzes can shape elections. Over time, the hard ban on campaigns coordinating with super PACs, a limit that always allowed for some creative loopholes, has been further eroded. Super PACs can now explicitly partner with the campaigns on get-out-the-vote efforts for the first time. Trump's campaign is relying on America PAC along with other outside groups to make up the difference for this once critical role for campaigns.<h2 id="254490b1-6509-4044-ae33-54464a618e95">Citizens United blew open the door to big money in politics.</h2>The Supreme Court's 2010 landmark decision and related lower court rulings opened the door to super PACs. There was almost immediate concern about how the nation's wealthiest would shape elections, especially presidential races. According to reporter Ken Vogel's 2012 book, "Big Money," President Barack Obama told a room that included Bill Gates, then-the wealthiest American and previously the world's richest person, that he and a small group of people now had outsize power."You now have the potential of 200 people deciding who ends up being elected president every single time," Obama told the room that also included Steve Ballmer, who later replaced Gates as Microsoft CEO.Around the same time, Buffett, who briefly replaced Gates as the world's richest person in 2008, made clear that he would stay out of the super PAC business."I don't want to see democracy go in that direction," Buffett told Berkshire Hathway shareholders during an open Q and A at the multinational's 2012 meeting in Omaha. "You have to take a stand some place."It wasn't that Buffett and Gates didn't have political power.The Oracle of Omaha was the face of the Obama administration's push to raise taxes on the wealthy, the so-called "Buffett rule." And during a 2008 presidential debate, both Obama and Republican presidential nominee John McCain floated the investor as a potential Treasury secretary. (Buffett never joined the Obama administration.)Buffett also publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. He held a fundraiser for Obama in 2012. Thanks to Nebraska's way of awarding Electoral College votes, he's also lived through the era in which the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-nebraska-2nd-electoral-college-vote-omaha-harris-mcdonnell-2024-9">Nebraska 2nd Congressional Distric</a>t, which covers Omaha and some of the metro area, has become a fierce political battleground. The city's oracle has yet to make a 2024 endorsement.<div type="image" title="Warren Buffett speaks at a 2016 rally in Omaha where he talked about his support for Hillary Clinton" height="1472" width="2500" msid="114397396" hostid="261" sizebytes="124894"></div>Gates praised Harris after she replaced Biden earlier this summer. He has also been a more outspoken critic of Trump. Gates, through his and his now-ex-wife Melinda French Gates' foundation, played a major role in shaping the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also arguably held the largest media presence of the American billionaires until Musk rocketed into the top slot.None of the other recent wealthiest men have come close to Musk's super PAC spending. Bezos made the biggest splash in 2018 when they donated <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/jeff-bezos-donates-10-million-to-super-pacwith-honor-fund.html">$10 million to With Honor</a>, a super PAC that supported veteran candidates. Unlike America PAC, though, With Honor was geared to support candidates from both parties.Both Buffett and Bezos also held or held stakes in media companies. Bezos still owns The Washington Post (which, full disclosure, previously employed me.) But neither man positioned those publications in the way Musk has harnessed X.Of the unofficial group, Buffett was arguably the best positioned for a career in politics. While he's most associated with Nebraska's largest city, he was born in the nation's capital, the son of an avowed anti-Communist congressman. Instead, he has pursued a much softer and less public power flexing."He's a pretty good listening post, and for those who want, a pretty good advice giver," Lowenstein said. "That way, he has a lot of influence. Obviously, that effectiveness wouldn't be there if it became public."

Elon Musk is flexing his wealth and political power unlike any of the richest men before him

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Charlie Munger once said that Elon Musk "likes taking on the impossible job and doing it."</li><li>Musk runs multiple businesses, including Tesla, SpaceX, and the social media platform X.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> may be one of the most influential businessmen around, but investing legend <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/charlie-munger-dies-warren-buffett-obituary-berkshire-hathaway-stock-market-2023-11?_gl=1*n2oyp6*_ga*MTcxMTUxODY3LjE3MDA1Mjc5MjA.*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcwMTIyMTY0NS4yMi4xLjE3MDEyMjM3MzEuNjAuMC4w">Charlie Munger</a> once said he <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-spacex-buffett-munger-berkshire-meeting-success-failure-2023-5">didn't intend to imitate Musk's lifestyle</a>.Munger, Warren Buffett's longtime business partner, died at 99 on Tuesday. He offered his views on Musk during <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKw_NjWtg5w&amp;t=3s">Berkshire Hathway's annual meeting</a> in May."He likes taking on the impossible job and doing it. We're different. Warren and I are looking for the easy job that we can identify. We have a wholly different way of going about life," Munger said."But we don't want to compete with Elon in a lot of things," Buffett added."We don't want that much failure," Munger continued.Musk has built his fortune by disrupting several industries, ranging from manufacturing electric vehicles with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla">Tesla</a> to building reusable rockets with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk">SpaceX</a>.The billionaire has often talked about his massive ambitions for humanity — he once described his work at SpaceX as being "the key to getting life to be multi-planetary.""Appreciate the kind words from Warren and Charlie," Musk <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1654966903327055872?s=20">wrote in response</a> to a video of Buffet's and Munger's comments back in May.Munger, who passed on Tuesday, played a critical role as Buffett's second-in-command, where he helped to oversee Berkshire Hathaway as its vice-chair.The late financial titan may have amassed a net worth of nearly $2.3 billion, but he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/charlie-munger-revealed-why-he-lived-same-house-for-decades-2023-11">avoided ostentatious displays of wealth</a>. Munger told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/11/28/charlie-munger-in-final-cnbc-interview-youve-got-to-learn-how-to-recognize-rare-opportunities-when-they-come.html">CNBC</a> in a recent interview that he "decided not to live a life where I look like the Duke of Westchester or something,""I didn't think it would be good for the children," said Munger, who has a total of eight children across two marriages.Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Charlie Munger once said he and Warren Buffett weren't interested in emulating Elon Musk: 'We don't want that much failure'

Jamnagar (Gujarat) [India], February 28 (ANI): The pre-wedding festivities of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh <keyword id="19898589" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ambani" source="keywords">Ambani</keyword>'s youngest son Anant Ambani, who is set to tie the knot with industrialist Viren Merchant's daughter, Radhika Merchant, have started with 'anna seva'. At Jogwad village near Reliance Township in Jamnagar, Mukesh Ambani, Anant Amband other members of the Ambani family, including Radhika Merchant, served traditional Gujarati food to the villagers. Radhika's maternal grandmother and parents - Viren and Shaila Merchant - also took part in the 'anna seva'. Food will be served to about 51,000 local residents, which will continue for the next few days. The Ambani family has organized 'anna seva' to seek the blessings of the local community for the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant. After the meal, the attendees enjoyed traditional folk music. Famous Gujarati singer Kirtidan Gadhvi stole the show with his singing. Sharing food is an old tradition in the Ambani family. The Ambani family has been serving food on auspicious family occasions. When the country was grappling with coronavirus pandemic, Reliance Foundation, under the leadership of Anant Ambani's mother Nita Ambani, ran a large food distribution programme. Taking forward the family tradition, Anant Ambani has started his pre-wedding functions with anna seva. The pre-wedding functions are expected to be traditional and grand. Guests will get to experience the beauty of Indian culture at the pre-wedding festivities. The guests at the occasion will receive traditional scarves made by women artisans from Kachchh and Lalpur in Gujarat. Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Queen of Bhutan Jetsun Pema, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, and Saudi Aramco Chairperson Yasir Al Rumayyan are among those invited for the celebrations scheduled between March 1-3. The guest list also includes former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, President of Google Donald Harrison, former President of Bolivia President Jorge Quiroga, former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd and Chairperson World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab. CEO and MD ADNOC Dr Sultan Al Jaber, CEO bp Murray Auchincloss, Chairman and Founder Colony Capital <keyword id="20770673" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="thomas-barrack" source="keywords">Thomas Barrack</keyword>, , CEO JC2 Ventures John Chambers, former CEO bp Bob Dudley, President of Global Development at BMGF Christopher Elias, Executive Chairman at Exor John Elkann, and CEO of Endeavor Ari Emanuel are also expected to be in Jamnagar next month. Chairman and CEO BlackRock Larry Fink, CEO Brookfield Asset Management Bruce Flatt, Co-chair Board member BMGF Bill Gates, COO BlackRock Rob L Goldstein, Managing Director Morgan Stanley Michael Grimes, Chairman Hilton &amp; Hyland Richard Hilton, Vice Chairman Berkshire Hathway Ajit Jain, Board Member Mandarin Oriental Archie Keswick, Scientist Dr Richard Klausner, Businessman Jared Kushner, Founder <keyword id="20626887" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="thrive-capital" source="keywords">Thrive Capital</keyword> Joshua Kushner, Former CEO bp Bernard Looney, Former Governor Businessman Terry McAuliffe, Scientist and Entrepreneur <keyword id="20770671" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="yuri-milner" source="keywords">Yuri Milner</keyword>, Founder and CEO Lupa Systems James Murdoch, President and CEO Aramco Amin H Nasser, Founder NV Investments <keyword id="20770672" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vivi-nevo" source="keywords">Vivi Nevo</keyword>, Former Dean Harvard Business School Nitin Nohria, COO Meta Javier Olivan, Vice Chairman Bank of America Purna Saggurti, , Founder and CEO Steel Perlot Michelle Ritter, Founder Schmidt Futures Eric Schmidt, Founding and Managing Partner Sherpalo Ram Shriram, CEO Sanmina Corp Jure Sola, CEO Enterprise GP Jim Teague, Group Chairman HSBC Holdings Plc Mark Tucker, and journalist Fareed Zakaria are among some of the other expected guests. Recently, Reliance Foundation posted a video on their Instagram handle in which women from Gujarat can be seen curating Bandhani scarves for the wedding functions of Anant and Radhika. In the clip, one can also see Nita Ambani, the founder and chairperson of Reliance Foundation, meeting the artisans and expressing her happiness for their hard work. "These women pour their hearts and souls into the craft, preserving age-old techniques and breathing life into stories as ancient as the land itself. Swadesh is empowering communities and preserving age-old craftsmanship," Reliance Foundation captioned the post. Ushering in the much-awaited wedding, the Ambani family has also facilitated the construction of new temples within a sprawling temple complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Featuring intricately carved pillars, sculptures of Gods and Goddesses, fresco-style paintings, and architecture inspired by generations of artistic heritage, the temple complex keeps India's rich cultural and spiritual identity at the heart of the wedding festivities. Brought to life by master sculptors, the temple art employs age-old techniques and traditions. The initiative highlights the incredible skills of local artisans, reflecting Nita Ambani's vision of preserving and promoting Indian heritage, tradition and culture. Anant and Radhika got engaged in a traditional ceremony in January 2023 at the family's residence Antilia in Mumbai. Isha Ambani, Akash Ambani and Anant Ambani, the three children of Mukesh-Nita Ambani, have been closely involved with and are leading and managing key businesses of RIL over the last few years including retail, digital services and energy and materials businesses. They also serve on the boards of the key subsidiaries of Reliance Industries. While Isha M Ambani has been driving the expansion of Reliance Retail, Akash M. Ambani is serving as the Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) since June 2022 and Anant M Ambani is driving the expansion of energy and materials businesses of Reliance Industries. Isha and Akash got married in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Anant Ambani is also involved with several compassionate initiatives to rehabilitate at-risk animals and provide them care and dignity in their residual life. Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation this Monday launched Vantara, a paradigm-shifting initiative for animal welfare in the heart of Gujarat's green belt. Vantara (Star of the Forest), an ambitious programme is dedicated to the rescue, treatment, care, and rehabilitation of animals in need. (ANI)

Anant Ambani, Radhika Merchant's pre-wedding celebrations begin with 'anna seva'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Clarence Thomas took at least 38 other previously undisclosed luxury trips, ProPublica reported.</li><li>The outlet estimates that Thomas has accepted millions in trips he didn't report since joining the court.</li></ul>Justice Clarence Thomas has likely accepted millions in undisclosed luxury trips since he joined the Supreme Court in 1991, ProPublica estimates.<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-other-billionaires-sokol-huizenga-novelly-supreme-court">According to ProPublica's report,</a> Thomas has accepted at least 38 other premium vacations that he did not previously disclose. Thomas accepted everything from a yacht trip around the Bahamas and a stay at a luxury resort in Jamaica to premium seats at college and professional sporting events.The sheer level of what Thomas has accepted is staggering, a former federal judge responsible for financial disclosures told the outlet."In my career I don't remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody," Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served on a committee that review judicial financial disclosures, told the non-profit news outlet. "I think it's unprecedented."Thomas, according to a report published Thursday, accepted a Bahamas trip from oil billionaire Paul "Tony" Novelly, Miami Dolphins and Florida Panthers tickets from then-owner H. Wayne Huizenga, and stays at picturesque properties owned by former Berkshire Hathway executive David Sokol. Huizenga also reportedly allowed Thomas access to a Gary Player-designed, exclusive golf club that was once considered the most sought-after invitation of its kind.Sokol also provided Thomas with flights and all-access passes to see his beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers, according to ProPublica. Thomas' wife Virginia "Ginni" is from Nebraska and the justice has become an avowed fan of the Big Ten school. ProPublica has <a href="https://www.propublica.org/series/supreme-court-scotus">published a series of reports</a> that have raised questions about whether Justice Thomas has properly disclosed the gifts, flights, and posh trips he's received from billionaire friends. While Thomas has not been accused of wrongdoing, the reports have triggered a scandal over the possibility that the nation's wealthy elite can wine and dine justices at their whim. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/politics/clarence-thomas-disclosures-supreme-court/index.html">Thomas has previously stated</a> that he was advised some of the trips did not fall under the requirements of what needed to be disclosed.Congressional Democrats have responded with a call to impose stricter ethical standards on the nation's highest court. The rest of the federal judiciary follows specific ethical rules, the justices are only covered by far more limited standards. In response, Justice Samuel Alito <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/28/alito-ethics-supreme-court-congress/">declared that Congress had no power</a>to impose ethical requirements on the court. Republicans have strongly opposed Democrats' efforts, arguing they are nothing more than a targeted attack on conservative justices such as Thomas.A spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Clarence Thomas accepted previously undisclosed luxury vacations with rich friends that likely cost millions: report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Americans are considering crossing the Atlantic for many reasons, including more affordable homes.</li><li>Brokers in France, Portugal, Italy, and Greece are seeing jumps in interest from overseas buyers.</li></ul>More and more Americans are eyeing an escape to Europe.Demand from international homebuyers has increased across Europe, brokers said in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://issuu.com/bhhsevents/docs/bhhs_european_summer_report_2022">an August 3 market report from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices</a>.Thanks to the strong dollar, many European countries became <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-dollar-strong-europe-england-exchange-rates-american-travel-2022-7">hot destinations</a> for international travel this summer. But some people are seeking more than a vacation."This isn't an escape from COVID anymore," Marcus Benussi, a managing partner and general counsel at Berkshire Hathaway outposts in Rome and Lake Como, said in the report. "It's turning into a more permanent model for life and family decisions. More and more people are choosing to move to Italy as they focus on quality of life over anything else."The US housing market has seen <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-crash-2008-home-prices-mortgage-rates-supply-sharga-2022-8">a swell of dramatic shifts</a> in the past two years, marked by <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/home-prices-wont-come-down-millennials-cant-afford-homeownership-2022-6">high prices</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/skip-home-inspection-win-bidding-war-2022-5">cutthroat competition</a> for available homes. Now <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mortgage-rates-rise-fall-fed-economists-predictions-trends-2022-7">relatively higher mortgage rates</a> have dinged affordability and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-investors-recession-stock-market-crash-inflation-federal-reserve-2022-6">recession fears loom</a>, amping the uncertainty. In interviews and market reports, brokers have said that Americans are more willing to uproot their lives in the US for new ones in Europe. France, Italy, Greece, and Portugal are capturing the most attention from US buyers, according to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/where-are-luxury-buyers-relocating-in-2022">a 2022 report from Sotheby's International Realty</a>.Brokers say Americans are considering western Europe for its more laid-back lifestyle, its beautiful vistas, and its less expensive homes. The <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-changed-my-life-not-going-back-to-office-2022-7">rise of remote work</a> allows for flexibility. Plus, for anyone making a salary in US dollars, Europe has become even cheaper this summer. In July, the euro <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/dollar-vs-euro-worlds-top-currencies-penny-parity-russia-ukraine-2022-7">dropped to parity</a> with the US dollar; the last time that happened was 2002.Stephanie Synclair, a 40-year-old entrepreneur, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-20/americans-moving-to-europe-housing-prices-and-strong-dollar-fuel-relocations">told Bloomberg</a> in July that she had been paying $3,000 a month for a four-bedroom house in Atlanta. She had saved up $300,000 to buy a home, but had no luck in the Georgia capital's hot market.Instead, she decided to move to Italy, purchasing a 3,100-square-foot house, the house next door, and an 800-square-foot storefront in the small Sicilian town of Mussomeli — all for 60,000 euros, or about $62,000."I would never have looked to buy in Italy if the market in the US hadn't been so crazy," Synclair told Bloomberg.Sotheby's told Bloomberg that Americans were responsible for 12% of the brokerage's Italian real-estate purchases in the first quarter. In 2021, Americans made up just 5%. Sotheby's also told Bloomberg that requests from Americans looking to move to Greece jumped 40% between April and June 2022 compared with a year prior.Ugo Bagration, Berkshire Hathway's head of business expansion in Marbella — a coastal city in southern Spain — said in the brokerage's summer report that he's seen an increase in US and Canadian buyers despite Spain levying higher taxes on luxury-property owners than its neighbors in the EU.In July, Knight Frank, a real-estate agency, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.knightfrank.com/research/report-library/prime-france-report-2022-9141.aspx">found that</a> currency shifts mean US buyers effectively get a 16% discount in France. Knight Frank's July report also noted that French property searches from American-based buyers increased 37% from last year in the first five months of 2022. The searches primarily targeted Paris, Provence, the French Riviera, and southwestern France.The number of website visits from international users to Sotheby's Paris site jumped 40% in early 2022 from the year prior, Paulo Fernandes, the managing owner of Paris Ouest Sotheby's International Realty, said in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/where-are-luxury-buyers-relocating-in-2022">the Sotheby's report</a>.Another lure of Europe is how easy it is to immigrate to many countries. Greece and Portugal, for example, make it fairly easy for Americans — or residents of any nation — to settle into the country <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-buy-citizenship-golden-passport-countries-list-2022-8">via its "golden-visa" programs</a>.In Portugal, a minimum investment of 350,000 euros, or $359,000, in real estate grants you a residency visa. Similarly, in Greece, a minimum purchase of 250,000 euros, or $256,000, grants you the same thing.

Americans are looking to Italy, France, Greece, and Portugal for more affordable homes and better lives

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Bill Pugliano / GettyTry as he might, Warren Buffett is going to have to shell out money to Wall Street.</div></div></div>The Oracle of Omaha has cut Wall Street out of advising on his latest deal. Warren Buffett isn't using any investment bankers on his $235-a-share, $37 billion deal to buy Precision Castparts, announced Monday morning August 10. A deal of that size would normally have $50 million and $60 million in advisory banking fees, according to Jeffrey Nassof, vice president of consulting services with Freeman &amp; Co.This should come as no surprise.Buffett has typically avoided using banks in his M&amp;A transactions. The last Berkshire Hathaway deal that made use of an advisory bank was its $5.1 billion acquisition of PacifiCorp in 2005, according to Freeman &amp; Co. Buffett has also been a vocal critic of Wall Street bankers, calling them <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lloyd-blankfein-responds-to-warren-buffetts-banker-criticism-2015-3">"money-shufflers"</a> who produce <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/business/dealbook/warren-buffett-rails-against-investment-bankers.html?_r=0">"huge fees."</a>He won't be able to duck Wall Street entirely however.In an interview <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/10/warren-buffett-precision-deal-very-high-multiple.html">Monday morning with CNBC</a>, Buffett said that he would finance about $10 billion of the deal in the bond markets. That is similar to his acquisition in late 2009 of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.; Berkshire Hathway <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704041504575045200986916556">placed $8 billion in debt</a> as part of that transaction. Nassof says Buffett and Berkshire will likely pony up about $25 million in fees for the financing.Specifics on the $10 billion in debt financing weren't included as part of the Precision acquisition announcement. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/legend-trailer-with-tom-hardy-2015-6">Tom Hardy makes a crazy transformation playing identical twins in this new gangster movie</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1uYjh4dTpwTQV0B9vjmmDX3JuE4LMeFF" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Warren Buffett shuns Wall Street advisers on latest megadeal

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">CernerCerner President Zane Burke</div></div></div><ul><li>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/potential-for-healthcare-takeovers-walgreens-2018-3">lines around healthcare are being redrawn</a>, with mergers that combine pharmacies with insurers and doctors with health plans. At the same time, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/employer-sponsored-healthcare-initiatives-from-apple-and-amazon-2018-2">big technology companies</a> have started taking a greater interest in healthcare.</li><li>Cerner's confronting those changes by finding technology partners, which Cerner President Zane Burke believes is a better strategy than technology companies trying to go it alone. </li><li>"That complexity has a tendency to eat you alive," Burke said, referring to tech companies that don't truly undestand healthcare data. </li></ul>The lines around what defines a healthcare company are getting blurred.For one, companies are merging like crazy: Pharmacies are acquiring insurers. Hospitals are getting into the drug business. Insurers are starting to own doctors' offices. Insurers are buying one of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cignas-67-billion-express-scripts-acquisition-changes-pharma-industry-2018-3">largest standalone pharma middlemen</a>. And retail giant <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-humana-potential-deal-would-align-pharmacy-and-insurer-2018-3">Walmart's reportedly been</a> in talks to buy Humana. For another, tech giants are getting more and more interested in healthcare. For example, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-complete-medical-health-records-iphones-2018-1">Apple's going to start putting medical records onto iPhones</a>, and there has been speculation about how Amazon could get into the pharmacy business. Already, Amazon's teaming up with JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathway to form a new <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-jpmorgan-and-berkshire-hathaway-healthcare-company-details-2018-1">independent nonprofit venture</a> aimed at lowering healthcare costs for their employees. It's putting companies that make the software that connects all the different aspects of the healthcare system through electronic health records in an interesting position. "We're increasingly looking for partners along the way," Zane Burke, the president of health information technology giant Cerner. For example, Cerner's <a href="https://www.cerner.com/blog/cerner-announces-new-collaboration-with-salesforce-to-extend-care-beyond-the-exam-room">working with Salesforce</a> on customer relationship management automation. Cerner's also working with Apple on its personal health records. Should patients want to see their information on their phones, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-complete-medical-health-records-iphones-2018-1">Apple can work</a> with Cerner's electronic medical records to pull that in.Burke's less convinced that big tech companies can go it alone in health IT, based on how things have gone in the past. "Big caps have gotten into this business before, multiple times, and have gotten killed every time," Burke said. Companies like Google, Microsoft, and IBM have tried to get into the health IT space over the past few decades, but ultimately haven't stuck around. Google Health, for example, had built a personal health information service, but the project was <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/discontinued-google-products-2016-8/#originally-intended-to-give-people-access-to-health-and-wellness-information-google-health-was-closed-for-good-in-january-2012-after-google-observed-the-service-was-not-having-the-broad-impact-that-we-hoped-it-would-10">shut down in 2011</a>. Microsoft recently decided to abandon its <a href="http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/microsoft-announces-closure-healthvault-insights-project-healthvault-platform-unaffected">HealthVault Insights program,</a> which was meant to give patients a better picture of their medical records and health. "And I'm not saying the next big cap that gets in is going to get killed, I'm just saying there's a reason why people have not succeeded in the past. And it's because of the complexity, and understanding the depth of healthcare," he said.The stumbling block as Burke sees it: how complex healthcare data can be, especially when it comes to privacy issues, and interoperability challenges that make it difficult to get data from one hospital to another. "That complexity has a tendency to eat you alive," Burke said, referring to technology companies which may not truly understand healthcare data. But it puts companies like Cerner in a good spot, Burke said. "We have a number of folks that want to work with us, and we just want to be very careful about picking the right partners that help us advance the ball the fastest, and deliver the most value for our clients, and that'll take care of our shareholders," he said. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/investors-need-to-lower-their-expectations-fidelity-market-outlook-2018-4">Investors need to lower their expectations</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

'That complexity has a tendency to eat you alive:' Technology companies face a massive challenge as they move into healthcare

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Stocks opened the day sharply higher with the Dow gaining as many as 283 points at one point before a huge intraday reversal saw the market fall into negative territory and stocks finish in the red for the second day in a row. 
<ul>
<li>Dow: 17,613.8, -27, (-0.1%)</li>
<li>S&amp;P 500: 2,023.00, -5.2, (-0.3%)</li>
<li>Nasdaq: 4,661.5, -3.2, (-0.1%)</li>
</ul>
And now, the top stories on Tuesday:
1. It was a big day for the labor market. This morning <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nfib-single-most-important-problem-2015-1">we got data</a> from the National Federation of Independent Business that points to rising wages for American workers. Additionally, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/november-jolts-report-january-13-2015-1">or JOLTS report</a>, from the BLS showed that job openings surged to another post-crisis high in November. And following these reports, economists could barely contain their excitement. 
2. Following the one-two punch of data <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/economist-nfib-jolts-reaction-2015-1">suggesting an increase in wages and more job openings</a>, Chris Rupkey at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi said, "The labor market isn't just healing - it is red hot with nearly 5 million jobs available. Slack in the economy isn't just going away; it's all but evaporated." Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macro said that since the financial crisis, the economy has really needed the small-business sector to normalize, and now it finally is. The next big economic report on the state of the labor market is the January 30 employment cost index. 
3. In stock news, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gopro-falling-dec-13-2015-2015-1">GoPro was a big loser</a> on Tuesday after a report from Patently Apple said that Apple was granted a patent for a GoPro-like camera system. Patently Apple's report said, "In one implementation, Apple's invention could directly move into GoPro's territory as the patent specifically mentions the weaknesses of the GoPro devices." The stock has still more than doubled from its IPO price, but is down big over the last couple months. 
4. Mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ocwen-stock-crashes-january-13-2015-1">was also a big loser</a> on Tuesday, falling more than 35% after a report from the Los Angeles Times said that California is seeking to suspend the company's mortgage license in the state, which the company counts as its largest source of business. 
5. A report in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/buffets-successors-made-the-wrong-bets-in-2014-2015-1">Fortune said</a> that Warren Buffett proteges Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who manage Berkshire Hathway's stock portfolios, failed to beat the market this year. 
6. Last night, Alcoa kicked off earnings season by reporting bottom- and top-line results that topped expectations, and the major US banks are set to take center stage later this week. Here's the lineup, from the NYSE's Charlie Brown: "JP Morgan Chase reports ahead of the open on Wednesday, and Wells Fargo after the close. Then comes Bank of America and Citigroup on Thursday, followed by Goldman Sachs and SunTrust Banks on Friday." 
7. Oil prices had another wild ride on Tuesday, with West Texas Intermediate crude falling below $45 a barrel overnight, a new low for the commodity which has been in free fall over the last several months, but in late trade on Tuesday, WTI made a huge comeback and was flirting with $47 a barrel near Tuesday's market close. 
Don't Miss:<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/roubini-bremmer-2015-outlook-2015-1"> I Went To A Talk With Nouriel Roubini And Ian Bremmer, And Now I'm Worried About Everything »</a>

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