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Can Billionaire Manager Ron Baron Regain His Touch?
1. At least he throws great parties. I've never been a shareholder, but shareholders can go to the annual meeting, which has interviews with the portfolio managers, interviews with CEOs and performances from the likes of Sting and I think Jerry Seinfeld one year.
2. I thought Baron Partners could short (although like CGM Focus, rarely did.) Guess not.
3. A whole lot about going after more money, not a lot (really nothing, actually) about things that benefit shareholders - none of it seems to understand the current environment. If you're going to expand in this time period and try to pull in more assets, "Baron Balanced" has a nice ring to it. Obviously low-risk is not what Baron is about, but if it's about pulling in new money... Pimco's new funds haven't been all that outstanding, but I think at least they show an understanding of what people are looking for.
Um, speaking of funds that might be of interest given the current environment, whatever happened to Baron Retirement Income? It's not even listed on the Baron website or Morningstar.
4. "Could Baron skip the frills and simply pass the $25 million difference along to shareholders in the form of lower fees? Baron contends that most people don't care about the price tag. "We are not trying to be Wal-Mart," he says. "If people want low fees, they can go to Vanguard."" Lol. People don't care about fees? Apparently he's never read MFO. The Wal-Mart comment also shows, much like a fair amount of the rest of the article, Baron doesn't get why 18% of the company's assets have left.
5. He's a permabull. He admits errors in 2008, but the next "crisis" will likely be no different for Baron funds.
Bonus: "lives on an East Hampton property that cost nine figures in 2007. Reports at the time said he bought it for $103 million, but he's quick to correct a reporter: It was actually $132 million."
Nice timing (again, permabull.) Although he probably doesn't care.
Comments
1. At least he throws great parties. I've never been a shareholder, but shareholders can go to the annual meeting, which has interviews with the portfolio managers, interviews with CEOs and performances from the likes of Sting and I think Jerry Seinfeld one year.
2. I thought Baron Partners could short (although like CGM Focus, rarely did.) Guess not.
3. A whole lot about going after more money, not a lot (really nothing, actually) about things that benefit shareholders - none of it seems to understand the current environment. If you're going to expand in this time period and try to pull in more assets, "Baron Balanced" has a nice ring to it. Obviously low-risk is not what Baron is about, but if it's about pulling in new money... Pimco's new funds haven't been all that outstanding, but I think at least they show an understanding of what people are looking for.
Um, speaking of funds that might be of interest given the current environment, whatever happened to Baron Retirement Income? It's not even listed on the Baron website or Morningstar.
4. "Could Baron skip the frills and simply pass the $25 million difference along to shareholders in the form of lower fees? Baron contends that most people don't care about the price tag. "We are not trying to be Wal-Mart," he says. "If people want low fees, they can go to Vanguard."" Lol. People don't care about fees? Apparently he's never read MFO. The Wal-Mart comment also shows, much like a fair amount of the rest of the article, Baron doesn't get why 18% of the company's assets have left.
5. He's a permabull. He admits errors in 2008, but the next "crisis" will likely be no different for Baron funds.
Bonus: "lives on an East Hampton property that cost nine figures in 2007. Reports at the time said he bought it for $103 million, but he's quick to correct a reporter: It was actually $132 million."
Nice timing (again, permabull.) Although he probably doesn't care.