Monday, February 4, 2008

The Article from the Toronto Star

"Business students get to meet investing guru Buffett"


Feb 02, 2008 04:30 AM

SPECIAL TO THE TORONTO STAR

For years, business students have read about and studied the theories and methods of value investing guru Warren Buffett, chair and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

Now, a select group of students from McGill University, the Rotman School of Management and University of Western Ontario's Ivey School of Business are getting the opportunity of a lifetime to meet the financial genius in person and, possibly, pitch an investment opportunity to him.

Students from the three Canadian universities will travel to Berkshire Hathaway's head office in Omaha, Neb., to tour one of its companies and then have a luncheon and question and answer session with Buffett.

"This is a great way to link textbook learning with the real world," says Matt Hertz, a student at McGill's Desautels Faculty of Management.

At the end of March, about 60 students from the Ivey School of Business will travel to Omaha for their meeting with the value investing guru.

One of George Athanassakos's mandates as chair of Ivey's Ben Graham Centre for Value Investing is to develop a program on value investing and spread the word about its methods and benefits.

What better way than to take students for an audience with Buffett?

"If Mohammed won't come to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammed," says Athanassakos.

"The trip isn't about learning about value investing, it's about hearing his (Buffett's) opinions, which are always very well thought out, on life, politics and other things."

The concept of value investing was first put forward in 1934 by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd in their book, Security Analysis. Buffett was a student of Graham's at Columbia University.

No comments: