It was a mark of respect. After Warren Buffett, who can lay claim to the title of the greatest investor of all time, told his army of loyal shareholders over the weekend that he was finally stepping down from the Berkshire Hathaway empire he has built over the last six decades, the firm’s shares fell 5 per cent when trading opened on Wall Street. Buffett, however, is 94. It should not have come as a surprise to anyone that he was retiring. In fact, the fall proves once again the central insight on which Buffett has built his remarkable career – the markets are not as efficient as they think they are.
His retirement should’ve been expected
It is not hard to understand why the shares fell. There is no one that you would rather have at the helm of an investment business than Buffett. Since the ‘Sage of Omaha’ (as he is known to his legion of fans) took control of the company, its stock price rose by an extraordinary 2,419,900 per cent, meaning that an investment of just $100 in 1965 would now be worth around $2.5
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