Warren buffett timeline biography of sebastian

Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Mallaby contributes to a variety of publications, including Foreign Affairs, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and the Financial Times, where he spent two years as a contributing editor. He’s the author of many of my favorite business books of all time including ⁠The Power Law⁠ on the history of Venture Capital, ⁠More Money Than God⁠ on the history of Hedge Funds, and ⁠The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan⁠, which is one of my favorite biographies ever in any category.

() Intro

() Business journalism

() Journalists as investors

() Most misunderstood part of the economy

() EMH

() Private v public markets

() Liquidity premium

() New asset management models

() Investor specialization

() Firm culture vs outlier talent

() Sequoia and FTX

() Meme stocks

() VC vs hedge funds

() Decision making at the Fed

() Evolution of the Fed

() Powell

() The Fed’s political independence

() History, Marx, Carlyle

[] Dan: Welcome. This is a conversation with Sebastian Mallaby, senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. He's authored many of my favorite business books of all time, including The Power Law on the history of venture capital, More Money Than God on the history of hedge funds, and The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan, which is one of my favorite biographies in any category ever.

What makes Sebastian's books and insights so unique is you can tell he's spent a ton of time with the biggest names that impact the global economy. You get the sense that he really understands what makes them tick. Insiders in the industries he writes about comment on the accuracy of his books, and it really comes out in this conversation. He's also a student of history, and there's a fun bit at the end where we get into Marxism and the great man theory

This article was originally published on  All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Warren Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway in , and its Class A share price has since increased 5,,%. Meanwhile, the S&P  has returned 38,%. Inspired by that outperformance, many investors carefully track the stocks Buffett buys and sells using the Forms 13F filed quarterly by Berkshire.

With that in mind, the company's stock purchases totalled $ billion and its stock sales totalled $ billion in the first half of That means Berkshire's net stock sales reached a record $93 billion through the June quarter. On the surface, that $93 billion warning signals a lack of buying opportunities in the current market environment, which itself hints at a possible drawdown.

That conclusion is further supported by the fact that Berkshire had $ billion in cash and U.S. Treasuries on its balance sheet as of the June quarter, another record for the company. Finally, Buffett repurchased a mere $ million in Berkshire stock during the June quarter, which marks his smallest allocation to stock buybacks in six years.

All of those clues point to an overvalued market, but the S&P has historically delivered robust returns during the 12 months following years in which Berkshire Hathaway was a net seller of stocks. Here's what investors should know.

Warren Buffett's 'warnings' have often preceded large gains in the S&P

Since , Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has been a net seller of stocks &#; meaning the total value of its equity security sales exceeded the total value of its equity security purchases &#; in seven years. In some cases, those events foreshadowed below-average returns in the S&P  in the subsequent year. But more often than not, the opposite was true.

The chart below shows (1) each year in which Berkshire was a net seller of stocks, (2) the total value of the stocks sold by Berkshire

Sebastian Roemer, Class of

Tell us about your journey since KWS.

After KWS I studied Economics at Cornell, where I graduated in and moved to NYC to work in finance. I had become interested in investing at KWS while reading a biography on Warren Buffett as part of a 20 century history class. I liked that he seemed to be a contrarian thinker, and his ability to question the status quo seemed to make him successful as an investor. I had thought of myself as a contrarian thinker and wondered if that meant I might find a calling as an investor. After spending two years in NYC, in I moved to San Francisco to work at a firm that invests in technology businesses. I’ve been here ever since working as an investor in technology businesses. 

What drew you back to your alma mater to serve on the board?

I felt gratitude for my formative years at KWS and wanted to reengage with the community and hopefully find ways I can give back.

Describe a memory at KWS that particularly stands out.

The teachers at KWS were some of the kindest, most generous people I’ve encountered in my life. My science teacher and high school lacrosse coach, Andy Dill, would sometimes give me rides home after practice. I was a science nerd and remember having fascinating conversations with him about a wide variety of esoteric science topics.

What would you like to tell current KWS Students (about your studies, about your post-school experience, or general advice)?

When looking back at various periods of my life, the thing that defines my experiences most is the people involved. If I could give myself advice at any point in my life, the advice would be to think carefully about the people I choose to bring into my life, and then to prioritize building meaningful, lasting relationships with those people.