Pre-Berkshire Hathaway: Buffett Partnership Letters 1957-1969

"Even if the price had been cheaper but the management had been run-of-the-mill, we would not have bought the business.”

I have a confession to make. I called myself a value investor without having read all of Warren Buffett’s letters. That’s like a Catholic who hasn’t read the New Testament —obviously, Ben Graham is the Old Testament.

That means it’s back to basics — i.e. reading Buffett’s letters pre-Berkshire Hathaway. This essay will cover Buffett’s letters from 1957 to 1969 period when we ran the Buffett Partnership.

But Dan, hasn’t someone already read it all and written about it? It’s true. There are people who’ve made their career out of their analysis on Buffett’s letters. So what? Catholicism is still a major area of study in universities, priests are everywhere, more books on the same old religion are still published and all they have is one book, The Bible. That’s to say, what’s one more person’s insights on the investor’s religion? I think I’ve rationalized enough to proceed with what I wanted to do anyway.

For those not bleached and dyed in the colours of value investing, this may sound lik…