Warren Buffett David Rubenstein Interview - Washington DC, Bill Gates, Dexter Shoe, Circle of Competence

Buffett's DC years: 'Your father was elected to...congress so you moved here you went to Alice Deal junior high school got a lot of...c's and d's...then you went to Woodrow Wilson high school...finished...16th in your class...but you were class of 17.' Work ethic: 'You were working...delivering papers in the morning and delivering papers in the evening.' Recent visit: 'I went out to Alice Deal today first time I'd been there in 65 years...I tried to get my record expunged but I had no luck.'

Internet usage: 'I love the internet...it's probably affected my life...almost as much as say Bill Gates we have a...trick question...aside from email which one of us is on...computer more and the answer is me because' of 'bridge on the internet...every night...couple hours a night.' Identity: 'I use the name T-Bone...it's gotten around that I am T-Bone...I used to put my age as 103 so when I did something dumb people would say for a guy 103...he's not bad.' Skill: 'After all these years...are you a champion...no...I'm not even close...I just have a good time...it's the most interesting game I've found.'

Giving commitment: 'He's committed to give 99 of that away...in the process of doing so.' Timing debate: 'My wife regretted that she thought I should' give earlier 'she liked the idea of giving away we both agreed on giving away all the money...once we had everything we wanted...the surplus wealth I have has no utility to me it has all kinds of utility the rest of the world if used properly.' Strategy: 'She would have liked the idea of giving away more of it earlier and I...felt that I was going to be a better compounding machine than...most places and that there would be a whole lot more to get away later on so I told her I'll pile it up and you unpile it.'

Historic meeting: 'July 5th 1991 Meg Greenfield...had a house...in Seattle...she called up...Bill senior and Mary Gates...Mary called up Bill and said...Warren Buffett's coming down and would you like to come down he said hell no what do I have in common with that guy...he doesn't understand technology...he's hopeless.' Mary persisted: 'Mary was very determined and she said...you're gonna come Bill...they got down to where he said he'd come down for...an hour and 27 minutes.' Result: 'He came down and we hit it off and we were still talking 10 hours later and we became good friends.' Computer use: 'He tried to get me to use a computer...when I learned I could play bridge on it I got interested in that...I still don't understand what happens with it though.'

Worst investment: 'I made a lot of terrible deals and the worst...probably the worst deal will be when I make in the future but the...current title...we bought a company...called Dexter Shoe...we paid 400 million dollars for it...which went to zero but we paid 400 million in stock and the stock we gave up is probably worth maybe three or four billion today.' Silver lining: 'Whenever Berkshire goes down I feel better about that deal.'

Intel opportunity: 'Famously passed on Intel when it was getting started I thought and I knew Bob...Noyce pretty well...we bought the converts when they were private...at Grinnell College and...the endowment of Grinnell College went from eight million to...a billion dollars in about 12 or 14 years...Intel was a help on that but I...in the end I don't worry about things I don't understand.' Philosophy: 'Tom Watson senior said I'm no genius but I'm smart in spots and I stay around those spots...there's a lot to that and knowing your circle of competence is where that perimeter is is enormously important...the fact that there are all kinds of things I can't do and there's plenty of companies I can't analyze but I don't have to worry about that.'

Competitive advantage: 'Part of why we're able to make deals is because we...can act fast they know we have the money they know we'll do the deal we closed on October 6 2008 on a six and a half billion dollar investment in Wrigley...they knew we would have the six and a half billion and that we would close on a date people weren't closing on anything.' Process: 'We do not have...PowerPoints around or people explaining this stuff to me I just go out and do them...I've been on 19 corporate boards and...every deal works on the PowerPoint...it's a show-and-tell type thing and I don't...participate in it.' Goldman example: 'I told the investment banker this is the deal...don't call for a few hours because you're going to Dairy Queen...with your grandchildren...I told them what I would do and if they wanted to do it fine if they didn't want to do it fine...we don't really negotiate at Berkshire...I don't have enough time...to spend the rest of my life...negotiating.'

Motivation: 'What kind of motivates you to keep going...I'm having the time of my life I mean I get to do every day exactly what I like to do with people who I love and who seem to like me pretty well.' Culture: 'Berkshire...supposed to be forever it has a special culture it has directors who are committed to that...we have an organization would reject anybody that tried to tamper with that culture...I think it...is special and it can stay special.'