Research Notes: Businesses, Investments, and CEOs (Historical and Current)

Notes from researching, learning, and thinking through historical and current businesses, investments, and CEOs.

Oct 20, 2022

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What Are Research Notes?

Research Notes contain information I have collected while researching, investigating, analyzing, and thinking through businesses.

Specifically here, these are general notes on businesses, investments, and CEOs, both historical and current. Information may come from books, annual reports, podcasts, interviews, and more.

The purpose of this work is to learn from past success and failure, and use that information for assessing and analyzing current businesses and investment opportunities. I have always kept an above-average amount of notes, given it is easier to remember and revisit what I learned. I wanted to store these notes here to have them in one central location, as well as make them available for those interested.

This is where I will add my previous notes, as well as continue to add new notes, analysis, and thoughts. Some notes may be short excerpts I want to remember, others notes may be much more in-depth.

Some of the notes have never been made, nor will be made, into official posts that are public to read.

For more general information on Research Notes, see here.

Subject

Businesses, Investments, and CEOs (Historical and Current)

Last Updated

Updated as of 12.5.2022

Best Way to Use and Read

I include a table of contents below. Next to each section is a superscript / footnote number. Click the footnote number, and it will take you to the relevant section.
If there are specific items you wish to read about, I suggest Ctrl+F

How to Know When There are New Notes to Read

When I make an update to the Research Notes, I add the date of the change and the name of the section to the “Update Log” below the Table of Contents.
Additionally, I tweet out the update on my Twitter, adding it to an ongoing thread. This is the number one way to see updates.
- You will see the latest additions to the thread on your Twitter feed or when you check out my Twitter profile.
- Important Twitter Note: The link in the tweet will take you directly to the section with the new update as long as you open the link in a browser where you are logged into Substack (therefore it will not work if you open it within the Twitter mobile app until you open it in the your main browser on mobile. On iOS, you simply need to click out using the Safari button in the bottom right.)

Sorted by Company and then CEO / Time Period

Washington Post1
1. Katharine Graham
  1. Early 1970s: Buffett and Munger’s Investment in the 1970s (Comments by Charlie Munger in 2021)
Standard Oil2 (includes pre-Standard Oil)
1. Henry Flagler
  1. 1850s - 1860s: Flagler’s “Surfing”
2. John D. Rockefeller
  1. 1860s: Rockefeller’s High Level of Borrowing
Amazon3
1. Jeff Bezos
  1. Early 2000s: Fears of Bankruptcy (Liquidity and Cash Burn Concerns in Early 2000s)
GEICO4
1. John “Jack” Byrne
  1. 1970s: Saving GEICO from the Brink of Bankruptcy
Fannie Mae (and Freddie Mac)5
1. Investments by Peter Lynch, Bill Miller, and Warren Buffett
  1. 1980-1990s, and 2008: The Rise and Fall of Fannie Mae
National Cash Register Company (NCR)6
1. John H. Patterson
  1. 1906: The Famous 1906 Annual Report (Mentioned by Buffett and Munger), and Anti-Competitive Practices & Monopolization

Update Log

12.5.2022
- Standard Oil: Flagler’s “Surfing” (1850s - 1860s)
11.17.2022
- National Cash Register Company (NCR): The Famous 1906 Annual Report (Mentioned by Buffett and Munger), and Anti-Competitive Practices & Monopolization
10.30.2022
- Fannie Mae (and Freddie Mac): The Rise and Fall of Fannie Mae (1980-1990s, and 2008)
10.28.2022
- GEICO: Saving GEICO from the Brink of Bankruptcy (1970s)
10.26.2022:
- Amazon: Fears of Bankruptcy (Liquidity and Cash Burn Concerns in Early 2000s)
10.21.2022
- Standard Oil: Rockefeller’s High Level of Borrowing
10.20.2022
- Washington Post: Buffett’s and Munger’s Investment in the 1970’s (Comments by Charlie Munger in 2021)

Disclaimer for Research Notes

There may be incorrect information, outdated information, or errors in the following contents, as the following are notes that I wrote down while researching. I include dates where I have them, making it easier to know when the notes / thoughts were written down. The older the notes, the more likely I have changed my mind or found new information.
This is not investment advice.
This is for educational / informational purposes only.
Please see the Disclaimer page for more details.

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