Having fun at 88; Warren Buffett still searching for the next elephant – FT

LONDON — Earlier this year it came to light that Warren Buffett has not managed to bag himself an elephant in three years. Blaming fierce competition from private equity firms for over-inflating prices, Buffett has kept his wallet firmly in his pocket. It has raised the question whether Buffett has lost his mojo. Early in May, his faithful 40,000 investors will travel from all over the world to Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting. Flanked by Charlie Munger, his vice-chair, Buffett's message will be "Keep the faith… opportunities will come". As he told the Financial Times in an interview, "if you played golf and hit a hole in one on every  hole, nobody would play golf, it's no fun. You've got to hit a few in the rough and then get out of the rough… that is what makes it interesting." – Linda van Tilburg

By Thulasizwe Sithole

Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and world's third richest man worth $86bn recently told the Financial Times that he was "having more fun than any 88-year-old in the world." In a career spanning 54 years his investment success rate is "oceanic". He has outpaced the S&P 500 "by almost 2.5m percentage points" defying the odds of generations of Wall Street investors. But in the past ten years, the icon has had less success. When you look at a dollar invested in Berkshire a decade ago, it would now be worth $2.40 which is less than an S&P tracker fund, which would now be worth $3.20.

Buffett is not a flashy billionaire. He occupies the same desk that he inherited from his father and has the casual image of "aw-shucks, Midwest-wholesome" man who played the longer game with a "simpler, purer version of capitalism." His offices are not remarkable and his staff members are casually dressed.

So why has the 88-year old Buffett not retired? He stays at the helm of his company, Berkshire, because that is what he has liked doing since he bought his first shares in an oil company at the age of eleven. "It's because I love what I do and love the people I do it with. I've got 25 people out here. We go to baseball games together. They try and make my life good, I try and make their life good." This image of a "plain-dealer persona" is why Buffett is trusted by politicians, businessmen and regulators. He fetches guests from the lobby in "a baggy pinstripe suit" looking more like somebody's granddad than a business tycoon.

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