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"I love how he criticizes hedge funds yet he
really had the first hedge fund. He criticizes activists but he
was the first activist," Loeb, who runs $17.5 billion hedge fund
Third Point, said about Buffett who has been running
conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway for 50 years.
Loeb, known in investment circles for his sharp tongue and top
returns, made the comments at the SkyBridge Alternatives
Conference, known as SALT, less than one week after Buffett
hosted his company's shareholder meeting in Omaha.
Buffett, whose own strong record earned him his nickname, has in
the past said that hedge funds could pose a threat to global
markets and has a running bet with a New York-based hedge fund
firm that hedge funds will underperform a low-cost index tracker
over ten years. So far Buffett is winning the bet, he said at
the weekend meeting in Omaha.
In Las Vegas, where Loeb was speaking to hundreds of hedge fund
managers, investors, and lawyers in the Bellagio ballroom, the
crowd was clearly on the fund manager's side, judging by the
hearty applause his comments got.
"He has a lot of wisdom but there is a disconnect," Loeb said
referring to the things Buffett says and what he actually does.
He quickly tried to walk back his comments by saying he took a
"potshot" at the 84-year old investor and philanthropist who is
widely seen as a hero by many other prominent hedge fund
managers.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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