New York
CONSIDER these two truthful sentences: Academics who study corporate finance overwhelmingly believe that conglomerates - giant companies that operate in a wide range of industries, often built through acquisitions - are an awfully inefficient way to organise businesses. And one of the most successful US companies of the past 50 years is a conglomerate called Berkshire Hathaway, run by the renowned investor Warren Buffett, which is the fourth-most valuable firm in the United States, behind only Apple, Google and ExxonMobil. It employs 340,000 people, roughly the population of Honolulu.
Mr Buffett gave his best go at explaining this seeming contradiction in his latest letter to shareholders...
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