The ‘Oracle’ and ‘Superman’ are holding on to their billions. It could be a bad sign for all of us
One is known as “Oracle of Omaha”, the other as “Superman”. Warren Buffett and Li Ka-show are the two best-revered investors in the West and East. Now that both, on the 90 and only two years later, are accumulating money, is it an omen of a great financial recession?
The Buffett Berkshire Hathaway pile is already the subject of rampant speculations of the market. The conglomerate is entering in 2025 with $ 334 billion ($ 531 billion) or a record of 29 % of the total activities.
Warren Buffet has a long built -in story at the right time. Credit: Bloomberg
Recent corporate actions of CK Hutchison Holdings will add only fuel to conjecture. The conglomerate based in Hong Kong has been constantly delegated since 2020. He has been held in cash after selling his European activities for the Cellnex Telecom tower for 10 billion euros ($ 17.2 billion) that year and could be without debt once the controversial sale of $ US19 billion of most of his ports at the Blackrock guided consortium. CK has not announced special dividends when it is released last week.
Both have a long built -in story at the right time. As my colleague Nir Kaissar wrote, the joke allocation of Berkshire has varied considerably over the years, increasing when the US actions were expensive, while they were lined up when the markets crashed. His investments in Bank of America, which date back to the global financial crisis, have produced a profit of over $ 30 billion.
Even the sense of li of when to sell is a wonder. He sold a control participation in the Mobile Telephony Operator of the UK Orange in 1999 for about $ 15 billion, close to the peak of the Dot-Com bubble. At the end of 2017, the businessman sold a skyscraper in the central commercial district of Hong Kong for a record of 5.2 billion dollars. Just over a year later, the real estate sector of the city office has reached the peak. Since then, skyscrapers have undergone a great turnover; The continental Chinese real estate developers who have taken on some floors, thinking they could overcome the Superman in cunning, have become anguished and had to make a fire of fires.
The billionaire Li Ka-show is not fascinated Beijing.Credit: Bloomberg
To tell the truth, the couple’s case does not necessarily mean that an accident is around the corner. Given their gigantic participations, Oracle and Superman can never go out at the top of the market, even if they could divine the future. Instead, they have to download when there are still buyers. However, keeping the powder makes sense because there may be good business that gurgling, probably after great market corrections.
The port of Hutchison’s port of Hutchison, for example, is curious. Only the two ports of Panama were in a geopolitical viewfinder, so why does CK sell all its operations outside of Hong Kong and continental China? In addition, Beijing showed regret, going until, according to reports, he told his state -owned companies to retain any commercial collaboration with the Li family. Yet the 96 -year -old, who is no longer involved in daily operations but has participated in the negotiations, is stubbornly going with this agreement. Is it because he expects that ports all over the world will suffer a structural recession now that Donald Trump has returned to the White House?
For now, port operations see profits for bumpers. Profits before interest and taxes increased by 24 % last year. In addition, this activity could collect higher margins with more automation. Given Li track record, it is not unreasonable to suspect that he is selling when the financials still seem beautiful.
