Here is the link to the video https://youtu.be/skrSif0vhOk
Thomas Russo is a preeminent investor of his times. As he speak with employees of Google and shares his experience and insight in value investing.
He says an investor is always at least in value investing which encourages to be invested for a long term. He talks about 2008 global financial crisis when he thought to leave and run when markets were in free fall but he didn’t left. If he left at that time he would have to face losses but he decided to stay invested. He explains this with his experience in Africa’s safari.
Thomas Russo talks about corporate culture. He takes the example of Nestle’s Japan’s head. He once told about a temple which was seven hundred years old but no wood is seven hundred years old. Thomas Russo connects this with Google’s employees saying that Google will remain Google even after the employees are gone.
While talking more about investing he shared that those businesses are selected which has capacity to reproduce over time. He also talks about Berkshire Hathaway’s share that traded around $900 per share which, over the time, grew at $200,000 per share. He talks about non-taxation of unrealized gains.
He mentions brand loyalty. He shares one incident of him when he was travelling by a plane and the passenger sitting next to him ordered Jack Daniels. Steward said they only have Jim Beam and the very moment the passenger said he will have water. This showed how customers have brand loyalty.
Talking more on investing, Thomas Russo shares that investor should find a business in which he is interested and can follow it. Also he says that managers should be owner-minded.
On family controlled business he says that family controlled business can be good because family holds major power and they take decisions which can be helpful for their upcoming generations.
He talks about capacity to suffer. He says that some investors look for people who have capacity to suffer. For this he shares examples of some companies which had capacity to suffer. One example was of alcohol business in which one entrepreneur refused to do further business in China due to economic downturn whereas one took this as opportunity and entered the market and today is successful.
Thomas Russo, on companies, says that company with good free cash flows have ability to expand. After checking cash flows investors look for companies which have good presence abroad because they can invest free cash flow in emerging markets which have rising GDP and rising disposable income.
He also tells that mangers should be multilingual and multicultural.
On asked by one of the audience about MasterCard he shares that how the business was having great opportunity to grow and this made him to remain invested.
The Fundamental Mindset 