Business Breakdowns
· Krishna Mohanraj
[00:00:00] S1: Following Exor over long periods of time, it's really like living through a live global case study in investing. There's so much to talk about, and we've touched upon a few of those themes. The one clear lesson that stands out is decisiveness. When you have to make a decision, make a decision. If it turns out to be wrong, fix it. There is none of what Buffett calls thumb sucking—hesitating, waiting on decisions. There's no "on the one hand, on the other hand," and then delaying decisions. If you follow Exor, and I have since inception in 2009 and also before that through Fiat, things are usually quiet, as you would expect from an investment holding company with a very long time horizon. There's not too much daily, quarterly noise, but maybe two or three times a year there is some specific, intentional decision that is moving the group in a certain direction. That comes from the clear intent to renew, refresh the portfolio with time. And I think that comes from Elkann's initial years with the group, the crisis, the fact that they had to find Marchionne as the CEO on the fourth or the fifth attempt within two years. What he learned was if they had stuck with the status quo, they would not have survived. I think that makes Elkann decisive, willing to change. When CEOs don't work out, no hesitation to try something different. Long-term investors tend to have a bias to no action, sitting on past decisions in the name of long term and patient. But investment decisions are not perfect. People decisions are not perfect. Even if they were good decisions for when you made them, the environment changes. It's always worth revisiting. I think it's a good lesson for us long-term investors when we understand that our bias is towards no action, to ask if we are hiding behind long term because we are afraid of uncertainty, to try and be more decisive and make decisions when you have to make decisions.
· Zack Fuss, Krishna Mohanraj
[00:00:00] S0: That was a really interesting summation of a business that probably could take countless hours or days to cover in sufficient depth. And so I think this is a great introduction to Exor, and we'll continue to monitor the story and the situation as the business evolves. [00:00:00] S1: Thank you, Zack.