That's not really accurate. Warren just only invests in companies with strong (provable) profit models at cheap prices. It doesn't matter what it is, it matters whether he (or you, or I, or anyone) can look at the numbers without guessing and see profit.
Before the housing bubble burst, those mortgage-backed securities were being shopped to Buffet. Buffet said he wouldn't buy them because they were bundled millions of loans and he had no way of knowing what the health of those loans actually was. Not rocket science. Not new age, high tech or too young for him. Just no different than anyone should even be with their money.
Would you buy a car for $25K if you did not know what year the car was, what model, what it looked like or what condition? But that is essentially what they were asking Buffet to do. And he didn't...but several people did.
Passing on random financial instruments (which AIG Was a counterparty to quite a few of) is not the same thing as commenting on a social networking site or choosing to not invest in something tech related.
Saying something is overvalued is buffet speak for saying "not cheap enough to be troubled" which is when he traditionally invests in things.
He buys lots of family businesses upon death events, and some heavy industry suffering capital issues. Generally speaking, this precludes young firms from crossing his radar even. "Suffering capital issues" is similarly something you will rarely see in todays tech environment.
Because a person is good at something doesn't mean he does everything perfectly. There are lots of great investments out there Buffet is not going to go anywhere near, that are conservative even. He definitely has a profile far more constrained than "proven business model"
He's a good businessmen, no doubt about it, but because he dislikes something does not mean it's not a good bet, it just means it doesn't clearly fit into his "Nothing a little money can't fix" investment profile.
Before the housing bubble burst, those mortgage-backed securities were being shopped to Buffet. Buffet said he wouldn't buy them because they were bundled millions of loans and he had no way of knowing what the health of those loans actually was. Not rocket science. Not new age, high tech or too young for him. Just no different than anyone should even be with their money.
Would you buy a car for $25K if you did not know what year the car was, what model, what it looked like or what condition? But that is essentially what they were asking Buffet to do. And he didn't...but several people did.