The Deals of Warren Buffett

Glen ARNOLD
The Deals of Warren Buffett
Vol 1: The First $100M

In this post, I will share my notes on The Deals of Warren Buffet and briefly present the content of his work. The author Glen Arnold is a Professor of Investing, but he swapped his tenured academic career for the excitement and real-world rigours of financial markets. He has written textbooks, Financial Times Guides and a best-selling investment book in the UK. This book review is on the first volume of a trilogy: The first hundred million dollars.

Not a “hundred thousand” or “million”, but “the first hundred million”. That’s impressive and intriguing, but not surprising as he is one of the great investors of our time. At the beginning of this year, I have shared another book review of Glen Arnold on investing: The Great Investors. That book is very beneficial to grasp the mindset and achievements of leading investors. The main argument of the book is simple: “How did these people come to be so successful? Can the ordinary investor really draw on their techniques?”. As I also put a lot of labor for the reduction of the Turkish version of it, I can suggest his works for those who are interested in finance.

Although “The Great Investors” and “The Deals of Warren Buffett” are not sequels, case by case examples built in the latter, widen and deepen the ideas given in the first. Arnold starts with “Why?” question. Warren Buffett and his achievements have been broadly covered and many books approached his investments or how much money he made. There are biographies and books on his personal life, too. But what Arnold was interested in were reasons:

– “What were the special characteristics about the companies Buffett chose that made them stand out?”
– “Was it the balance sheet numbers, the profit history, the strategic positioning and/or the qualities of management?”
– “How did Buffett go from step to step, from having virtually no money to being very rich?”

In my previous review, I’ve appreciated Arnold’s writing style, but criticised the lack of evidence, charts and graphics to support the thesis. This time I’m satisfied with the return tables, financial report sections and various charts that depict price movements or valuation ratios. They are not presented for every case, but I find it more than enough to convey the message.

When it comes to book structure, it is well organised. The narrative starts with the Warren Buffett story and continues with the deals he made during his investment career. Following the very first stock purchase at the age of 11 [Cities Services totalling $229.50 ($38.25 x 6)] with his whole savings of $120 plus his sister’s money is a good start for many lessons to learn. Than college years and professional life are presented. I guess, realising the difference between speculation and investment in future earnings, and reading the Intelligent Investor are breaking points.

The book does not cover all the deals and investments Buffett made in the given period, but it brings the important ones in a set. These case studies are impactful and carry great importance for the different point of view. Sometimes it is income statement data, sometimes balance sheet items that affect the decision to buy or sell. You can also follow the transformation from quantitative to qualitative search along the investment decisions. And the first volume ends where Buffett reaches the major milestone of $100m net worth, and when he consolidates his investments in one holding company, Berkshire Hathaway.

To sum up, ‘The Deals of Warren Buffett’ is a must read if you would like to see the world from a legendary investors lenses. It was a pleasant and educative read. Furthermore, the ideas in this book match one-to-one with my strategy. As I have already mentioned in my latest portfolio report, a slight change is that I will follow a more focused approach. I have already started it before reading this work and now have more grounds for it. I hope to report good results and details of it at the end of the year.

Last but not least, I have prepared a one page summary for the most striking features of the content. If you are interested on investing, you can download it in pdf format for free, by clicking the link.

Ergun UNUTMAZ, 19.02.2025

Glen ARNOLD, The Deals of Warren Buffett – Harriman House LTD, Great Britain, 2017.

Further reading:

Christopher Browne: The Little Book of Value Investing
Aswath Damodaran: The Little Book of Valuation