"We're such cowards!" said Martin Whitman, the 82-year-old legendary superinvestor, at a seminar organized by New York Society of Security Analysts (www.NYSSA.org) on February 16, 2006, "We only want to be the senior-most creditors in distressed situations. We only want to be the adequately secured lenders in Europe and overseas. We don't want to be subordinate to any of the asbestos or tobacco liabilities..." And he brilliantly calls himself the "safe and cheap" investor.
Marty Whitman's "License To Steal"
The man brave enough to call himself a "coward" is never short of shocking and jaw-opening statements though. Marty Whitman says that he started as one of the "grossly overpaid bankruptcy professionals" in the 1970's. Seeing that a mutual fund business is "a license to steal", he entered the money management business in 1990 through the backdoor via a "hostile" takeover of a close end fund and then opening it. He confesses that he "goes to bed" with competent managers who kiss minority owners. And when Whitman got upset at his investors who exited his underperforming value funds in droves during 1989 and 1999, he told a reporter with undisguised relish, "As for dealing with the public, and you may quote me, screw 'em!"
Complete Article
Marty Whitman's "License To Steal"
The man brave enough to call himself a "coward" is never short of shocking and jaw-opening statements though. Marty Whitman says that he started as one of the "grossly overpaid bankruptcy professionals" in the 1970's. Seeing that a mutual fund business is "a license to steal", he entered the money management business in 1990 through the backdoor via a "hostile" takeover of a close end fund and then opening it. He confesses that he "goes to bed" with competent managers who kiss minority owners. And when Whitman got upset at his investors who exited his underperforming value funds in droves during 1989 and 1999, he told a reporter with undisguised relish, "As for dealing with the public, and you may quote me, screw 'em!"
Complete Article
