What companies did Warren Buffett put on his wish list for Santa Claus?
The secret is out.
The Berkshire Hathaway chief sent a photo of himself, perched on Santa’s lap, and named several companies that he apparently believes will be great stocks to own in 2012.
Under the header, “Santa – 2011,” Buffett listed Exxon Mobil, Wells Fargo –both companies in which he already owns shares–and Google. No public records indicate that Buffett has ever owned Google stock.
Does this mean that the Oracle of Omaha, who has mostly shunned investments in Silicon Valley, now has his sights set on Google?
Buffett answered in an email: “I just wrote out the list without much thought except to pick companies that we already owned as ‘completed’ and then just pulled the other names out of a hat–with an eye toward ridiculousness. The implication I hoped was that they were on a list designating those I hoped to own in their entirety, not just shares.”
Hmm, owning Exxon Mobil and Google in their entirety does sound a bit ridiculous. But you can’t accuse the man who built Berkshire Hathaway into America’s seventh-largest company of thinking small.
Those “completed” companies that Buffett says Berkshire already owns in their entirety are GEICO, BNSF Railway, and McLane, a distribution giant that he bought from Wal-Mart in 2003.
As for the last item on his Christmas list, “Youth Pills (for Charlie),” here Buffett is referring to Charlie Munger, his longtime business partner who turned 88 on New Years Day. Buffett is a relatively youthful 81.
And who is this Santa, upon whose lap Buffett sits? That is Michael Wilhelm, the brother of a good friend of Susie Buffett, Warren’s daughter. Every Christmas, Wilhelm dyes his beard to play Santa and entertain the young ‘uns in the Buffett crew–including Warren, we guess.