Why Warren Buffett is gambling on Japan’s distinctive dealmakers

https://www.ft.com/content/e20708ac-347b-47de-b79a-ab7fb9088d6f

by kome • 6 years ago

6 2 6 years ago

miles• 6 years ago

First gold[0], now Japan[1]?

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24166302

[1] "My thoughts about Japan? I am not a macro guy. Now I say to myself, Berkshire Hathaway can borrow money for 10 years at one percent in Japan now. One percent! And I say to myself, gee, I took Graham's class 45 years ago and I have been working hard at this thing all my life, maybe I can earn more than 1% you know, if I really work hard at it. 1% annually, it doesn't seem impossible, does it? So, I wouldn't want to get involved in currency risk, so I'd have to do it in something that was yen-denominated. So I'd have to be in Japanese real estate or a Japanese business or something of the sort and all I have to do is beat one percent. That's all the money is going to cost me and I can get it for 10 years. So far I haven't found anything. It's kind of interesting. The Japanese companies earn very low returns on equity. They have a bunch of businesses that earn 4, 5, 6% on equity and it is very hard to earn a lot as an investor when the business you are in doesn't earn very much money." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MHIcabnjrA&t=10m23s

magicnubs• 6 years ago

The Japanese companies earn very low returns on equity. They have a bunch of businesses that earn 4, 5, 6% on equity and it is very hard to earn a lot as an investor when the business you are in doesn't earn very much money.

Not sure I understand what he meant there. 4-6% seems perfectly fine if your loan is for 1%? Why isn't 4-6% enough to pursue?

Why Warren Buffett is gambling on Japan’s distinctive dealmakers

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