Why Buffett’s Bearishness Should End V-Shaped Recovery Talk

*Note: Hey all - have been quite horrible about sending these out, but going to try to get back into the cadence. Thanks for hanging out! - NLW

Nathaniel Whittemore @nlw

“We have not done anything, because we don’t see anything that attractive to do.” A month after Lehman's '08 bankruptcy, Warren Buffett was writing Op-Ed's on buying stocks. This time, he's sitting on $137B. What gives? @BreakdownNLW on @CoinDesk Why Warren Buffett’s Bearishness Should End V-Shaped Recovery Talk - CoinDeskNLW unpacks a meaningful shift as the famously optimistic Warren Buffett struck a more sober note at Berkshire Hathaway’s first ever virtual event.coindesk.com

May 5th 2020

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Episode Direct:

One month after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Warren Buffett wrote an Op-Ed saying that he was buying stocks. Yet during the Coronavirus crisis, he is sitting firmly on the sidelines. 

On Saturday night, the “Oracle of Omaha” spoke for 4.5 hours in the first ever virtual version of the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting - an event which some have called the “Woodstock of Capitalism.”

On this episode, NLW examines some of the key topics of the presentation, including: 

• Why Berkshire sold their entire $6.5B stake in the airline industry

• Why they were sitting on $137B in cash 

• Why they haven’t made any investments 

• How the Fed gave companies better terms than they were willing to

It was hard not to watch the presentation and conclude that Buffett feels that there are simply too many unknowns in the world going forward to feel comfortable doing much in the market right now.