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Charlie and I recently flew on a plane that was hijacked…with what? Captured? I tell them about our experience on that hijacked plane, when the terrorists chose us as the two dirty capitalists they really should have executed. And...but they, they were a little confused by it. They really had nothing against us .
So they said they would grant each of us one request before shooting us. They turned to Charlie and asked, "What would your request be?" Charlie said, "I'd like to give my speech about the benefits of Costco again with illustrations." And the terrorist replied, "Well, that sounds perfectly reasonable to me." Then he turned to me and said, "What would you like, Mr.
Buffett?" And I replied: " Shoot me first." Charlie, Matt Mallister has a question about Costco. He asks, "Why did you think almost two years ago that this was the only American stock worth buying at that time?" And why did you think Amazon had more reason to fear Costco than Costco—Amazon? And if you consider Jeff Bezos one of the best businessmen you've ever known, would you consider investing early in any new projects he'll inevitably focus on now that he doesn't have to worry so much about the day-to-day running of Amazon?
Well, no. I really admire Jeff Bezos, who I consider one of the smartest businessmen in history, but I won't follow him. We have our own quirks. And I just don't know enough about it to want to get into that kind of activity. And every investor, when faced with such complex issues, sees that many very smart and decent people reach opposite conclusions.
And I really think Costco has something that Amazon doesn't . People really trust Costco to provide great value, and that's why Costco poses a bit of a threat to Amazon, as they have a better reputation for providing value than virtually anyone, including Amazon. You recently talked about bubbles and high scores at your conference.
Is Costco part of this? Costco has never traded at a higher price-to- sales or price-to- earnings ratio. What should new investors think about Costco, given its record growth? That's a very good question, and I've always believed that nothing is worth an infinite price. So even at a great company like Costco, the price can reach a point where you say, "that's too expensive." But I would argue that if I were investing money for some sovereign wealth fund or pension fund and had a planning horizon of 30, 40, 50 years, I would buy Costco stock at the current price .
I believe this is such a strong enterprise and such a worthy place. Of course, I'm not saying that...I can't force myself to pay such high prices because of my habits, but I never even think about selling a share in Costco just because it's on sale at a high price. Come to think of it, I bought a flannel shirt for Christmas, even a few flannel shirts at Costco.
They were about $7 each, soft flannel, better quality, and all that . And then I bought pants. I think they were Orvis pants and I paid about $7 for them . They stretch at the waist, are partially water-repellent, and all that. Costco will become an absolute titan on the internet because they have a selection of products that everyone trusts and huge purchasing power with a limited number of product units.
So, I'm not worried, I'm ...I'm not saying I'm buying Costco at that price, but I'm definitely not selling anything. I think this is going to be a big powerful company as far ahead as you can see. And I believe she deserves her success. I think they have a good culture and a good moral ethos. So I wish everything else in America worked as well as Costco .
Think what a blessing that would be for all of us. In Janet Lowe's book about Charlie, Damn Right, Charlie shares his perspective on teaching finance. He says he would use the history of hundreds of companies that did something right or wrong as a basis for teaching the course. Could each of you, and since this is about Charlie, could each of you—let 's start with Charlie— give us an example or two from either category: right or wrong steps?
I predict Charlie will talk about Costco. Please, Charlie. Well, Costco, of course, is a business that has become the best in the world in its category. And he did it through extreme meritocracy and the extreme ethical obligation he imposed on himself to take all of his pricing advantages as they arose and pass them on to customers.
And of course, it created crazy customer loyalty, and that business was great to watch. And of course, strange things happen when you do it...do it long enough. Costco has one store in Korea, with sales expected to exceed 400 million this year. These are numbers that cannot exist in retail, but of course they do.
And this is an example of when someone has the right management system, the right recruiting system, the right ethics, the right diligence, etc. This is a fairly rare occurrence. And if you have been involved in such a business at least once or twice in your life, you are a very lucky person.
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