Warren Buffett Bought an Indiana RV Maker and Let the CEO Name His Own Salary—Whatever It Was, He'd Pay It. 'This Is Not an Approach I Recommend'

Warren Buffett once bought a $1.7 cardinal institution implicit the phone. Another time, helium wired billions for a concern helium ne'er visited, due to the fact that helium didn't consciousness similar getting connected a plane.

So erstwhile helium told an RV executive, "You sanction your salary, and I'll wage it," it wasn't retired of character. But it was inactive extraordinary.

In his 2024 missive to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Buffett shared the communicative of Pete Liegl, the precocious laminitis of Indiana-based RV shaper Forest River. Liegl wasn't a household name, but Buffett credits him with generating "many billions" successful wealthiness for shareholders—and considers the woody 1 of his best.

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Buffett archetypal heard astir Forest River successful a letter. Liegl owned 100% of the institution and wanted to sell. He adjacent named his terms upfront. Buffett liked the simplicity. After asking a fewer RV dealers astir Forest River's estimation and liking what helium heard, helium invited Liegl to Omaha, Nebraska, for a meeting.

What followed was classical Buffett: nary games, nary appraisals, nary drawn-out negotiations.

When the taxable of wage came up, Buffett asked Liegl what helium wanted to beryllium paid and told him that immoderate fig helium gave, he'd judge it.

"I asked Pete what his compensation should be, adding that immoderate helium said, I would accept," Buffett wrote. "This, I should add, is not an attack I urge for wide use."

Liegl didn't inquire for millions. Instead, helium requested $100,000 per year—the aforesaid wage Buffett took arsenic Berkshire's CEO for decades. Then helium added a 10% bonus connected profits supra the existent tally rate. Buffett said yes without blinking.

The woody was sealed. No one-lawyer-per-minute fee. No spreadsheet battles implicit earnouts. And nary play later. "Those vague presumption ne'er caused a problem," Buffett wrote.

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Buffett is famously allergic to complexity. He prefers elemental businesses, elemental math, and radical helium tin trust. He's made deals successful minutes, often without leaving Nebraska, due to the fact that what matters astir to him isn't a cleanable transportation deck—it's quality and accounting.