#280
The Sage Enters Fintech
The wily 88-year-old sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, took his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway into what some folks considered uncharted waters recently, writing $600m into two high-growth fintech companies focused on emerging markets: Brazilian payment processor StoneCo and India’s largest mobile-payments service, Paytm.
On closer inspection however both investments don’t look terribly out of place!
First, Berkshire Hathaway has had a major cash problem for a long time – with over $100b and nothing to spend it on. Moreover, Warren likes banks! Berkshire has taken large positions in Wells Fargo, American Express, U.S. Bank, Goldman Sachs, and M&T Bank. He has invested personally into JPMC saying that Jamie Dimon writes “the best annual letter in corporate America.”
However, the biggest give away might be that his lieutenant Todd Combs was given the pen to write the checks. Mr. Combs had an extensive background in payments before joining Berkshire 8yrs ago. He ran a hedge fund focused on financial companies called Castle Point Capital and sits on J.P. Morgan’s board.
Finally, both StoneCo and Paytm have a huge market share in their respective countries, a trait that's quite common among other Berkshire investments.
So Warren and Todd – what’s next?
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The Sage Enters Fintech
Warren Buffett’s firm invests millions in fintech - In a departure from the company’s usual penchant for blue-chip companies in steady businesses, Berkshire invested around $600m in recent months in two high growth financial technology companies - payment processor StoneCo and the mobile payment platform Paytm. Read more
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