- The Rockefellers are divesting their fossil fuels investments.
- Warren Buffett has recently made a big investment in Exxon Mobil.
- It is very likely one of them is making an investment mistake, and we will probably know who was right in a few years.
It is fascinating when business tycoons take completely opposite investment positions. One recent situation of this kind is oil investments by Buffett and the Rockefellers. While Buffett recently bought a 4B position in Exxon Mobil, the Rockefellers made headlines recently with the announcement that they will be divesting from their fossil fuels investments.
Besides the approximately 4 Billion dollar investment in Exxon Mobil (which was clearly carried out by Buffett himself), there are smaller oil related companies that might have been added to the Berkshire portfolio by either Todd Combs or Ted Weschler. These are Suncor Energy, a stake worth approximately $600M, and National Oilwell Varco, which is valued at approximately $500M.
The obvious question is who is wrong? Few people understand oil better than the Rockefellers; after all they are the family most responsible for the creation of Big Oil in America. On the other hand we have Buffett, who is not wrong very often. Still, energy has not been one of his strong suits. He has made some mistakes in this area before.
Who is wrong?
