The Outsiders
William Thorndike on eight CEOs who ran their companies for cash and capital allocation
William N. Thorndike's 2012 study of eight chief executives, among them Tom Murphy of Capital Cities, Henry Singleton of Teledyne and Katharine Graham of the Washington Post, whose shareholders did far better than the market over decades. The common thread is that each treated capital allocation as the job: buying back stock when it was cheap, avoiding dilution, decentralizing operations and ignoring Wall Street's quarterly expectations. Short, plainly written and heavy on numbers, it is read mostly by managers and investors who want a model of how to think about money inside a company.
People on record
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Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Warren BuffettRecommends
Investor · Berkshire Hathaway chairman
An outstanding book about CEOs who excelled at capital allocation. That was his verdict in the 2012 letter. He singled out the chapter on Berkshire director Tom Murphy, whom he rates the best business manager he has ever met.
Source: Berkshire Hathaway: 2012 Chairman's Letter
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