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    Thursday, May 09, 2024

    Buffett and Wozniak take different approaches

    This is the week for Facebook's much-discussed debut on Nasdaq. While multibillionaire Warren Buffett is non-committal on Facebook's pending initial public offering, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak most certainly is not. Warren would wait, but Woz would buy.

    "I don't care what the opening price is," Wozniak said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Sydney on Sunday. "I would just for good reasons, especially if I was an investor looking to make money."

    Although he didn't elaborate on those reasons, being first in line is kind of a hobby for Woz, now chief scientist at Fusion-io. He's often seen at the head of the pack with just about every iPhone and iPad launch.

    By the way, Facebook is flash-memory maker Fusion-io's biggest customer, according to Bloomberg News.

    CEO Buffett, on the other hand, recently told shareholders in his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that IPOs are almost always bad investments, due to the overblown hype-to-actual value ratio.

    The better play, Buffett said later, rather than buying based on the news of the day, would be to try to project how those companies are likely to fare 10 years down the road.

    Facebook is expected to release shares to the public Friday, potentially becoming one of the world's most valuable Web companies.

    Its shares will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol FB.

    - The Los Angeles Times

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