Look, don't congratulate us when we buy a company, congratulate us when we sell it. Because any fool can overpay and buy a company, as long as money will last to buy it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It's not just buying the company. Sure, we picked the right companies, and we picked the right management and, most importantly, we've given them the right incentive to perform.
If the company depends entirely on you - your creativity, ingenuity, inspiration, salesmanship or charisma - nobody will want to buy it. The risk and the dependency are too great.
Not offering this kind of guarantee means that they do not believe in their product enough, and they do not care about if a salesman is over promising or over selling their product.
I bought a company in the mid-'90s called Dexter Shoe and paid $400 million for it. And it went to zero. And I gave about $400 million worth of Berkshire stock, which is probably now worth $400 billion. But I've made lots of dumb decisions. That's part of the game.
People always worry that buying tech products today carries a risk of obsolescence. Most of the time, that fear is overblown.
It's no surprise companies that quickly grow in value attract those who may want to also profit from the hard work of others.
You can do too much and oversell your market.
Buying only what you know can end in disaster. Just think about Enron's employees and business partners, the 'locals' who bought lots of its stock because they thought they were in the know.
You can hype a questionable product for a little while, but you'll never build an enduring business.
I don't think it's a good idea to plan to sell a company.