[estefan]

> He prefers to invest when it is actually possible to possess information or insights that have not been widely distributed to other potential buyers via public disclosure.

This is exactly the opposite of what he claims in his essays. One quote:

> The other way we differ from some arbitrage operations is that we participate only in transactions that have been publicly announced. We do not trade on rumors or try to guess takeover candidates. We just read the newspapers, think about a few of the big propositions, and go by our own sense of probabilities.

There are several others in "The Essays of Warren Buffett" where he also describes how he just uses public information.

[jacques_chester]

Again, there is a distinction between buying private businesses outright and buying in the open market.

In the former case, Buffett solicits sellers to directly contact him. He makes this solicitation every year in his letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.

In the latter case, Buffett recommends the Financial Times as a source of information.