The Many Myths of Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett "is a hedge fund manager" who built his fortune in part by charging early investors 25% of profits above 6% in his fund, the Pragmatic Capitalist writes. The fee structure is interesting in light of Mr. Buffett's October 6, 2008 letter to then-Treasury secretary Henry Paulson offering to invest $500 million of Berkshire Hathaway's money and $100 million of his own money (which he described as "about 20% of my net worth outside of my Berkshire holdings, which as you know are promised to charity) in a partnership with the government to buy up distressed assets. In the letter, Mr. Buffett proposed to "bar hedge funds or other vehicles in which management receives an override of profits" from investing in the deal, arguing, "you would want to have investors receiving all of the profits available instead of splitting them with managers taking fat overrides." The letter, which addresses the Treasury secretary as "Hank," says that "Bill, Mohamed, Lloyd and I -- and I'm sure a myriad of others -- are ready to help." The references are to Bill Gross and Mohamed El-Erian of Pimco and to Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs. Now Mr. Buffett is helping Mr. Paulson promote his book. Mr. Gross and Mr. Buffett also gave Mr. Paulson cover for seizing Fannie Mae -- Mr. Gross, in particular, was cheering it on, but so was Mr. Buffett. Had "Hank" accepted Mr. Buffett's proposed deal, Mr. Buffett might have ended up with the 72% return the Credit Suisse guys got on their "toxic" assets. What an operator! One is torn between admiring it and being disgusted by it.