Warren Buffett Bidding for Yahoo Assets with Quicken Loans Founder (opens in new tab)

(cnbc.com)

35 pointsgeoffwoo9y ago16 comments

16 comments

It seems that Buffett is helping finance the offer. He might not be the part of the consortium. He may have arranged a loan for them. That would be more the style of Buffet. Selling pickaxes during a gold rush. He rarely invests directly in technology companies.

>The consortium is in the second round of bidding in the auction for Yahoo's assets, the people said. Buffett is helping finance the offer, one of the people added.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yahoo-m-a-buffett-idUSKCN0...

fiatmoney9y ago

Yeah, Buffett prefers buying high free cash flow assets, ideally backed by some kind of monopoly or other barrier to entry, and then using the cheap money to offer exactly this kind of financing. Buying Yahoo assets themselves wouldn't be at all his style.

tacos9y ago

Yup, he buys well-run companies then leaves the managers to do their thing, offering capital when needed. Yahoo is the most anti-Buffett company on Earth.

This is more like when he loaned money to GE. Hope this bid wins, I always love learning how he structures his deals.

throwaway57529y ago

Explain his buying newspapers! (I'm being tongue in cheek, I understand how they fit into his cash flow/moat profile). Yahoo! assets could be understood through that lens.

Agree, it's more likely it's a favorable loan term (perhaps what he did with GS - high coupon preferred redeemable for common).

siscia9y ago

It sound as a good news for everybody.

Buffett is know for not putting too much pressure on his investments giving them the time to grow and be profitable.

It is a strategy that worked pretty well, however a technology company is a different beast from the other companies in the Hathaway portfolio (winner takes it all/most), said so Yahoo can still an important player with the right management.

ghshephard9y ago

More detail here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-13/buffett-ba...

Buffet isn't bidding for the group, it wouldn't be part of the Hathaway portfolio. He's just providing the financial backing for Dan Gilbert.

hkmurakami9y ago

Buffet buying a stake in a technology company. Never thought I'd see the day.

charlesdm9y ago

He probably realised they're going to sell it for nothing close to its actual value.

rebelde9y ago

In many respects, Yahoo is more of a publisher, a content provider, than a tech company. That makes it more like the newspaper business that he knows well.

godzillabrennus9y ago

He bought into ibm

bbody9y ago

Unlike most technology companies, IBM has been around since before Warren was born. But in general he doesn't buy into technology companies, he is well quoted in that regard.

pyvpx9y ago

I know they have a quantum computer, Watson AI, and that Power architecture...but isn't IBM primarily a sales and consulting company? at least, by revenue and headcount?

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