Back good companies

We write a lot about companies in this newsletter and their prospects for further top-line growth. We don't typically profile their CEOs.

For example, we have owned Visa shares since 2012 and we go on at length about their brilliant business model, and the way that they (and their competitor Mastercard) have moved humanity from cash payments at the point of sale, to electronic payments with cards, phones and other interfaces online.

Since 2012 Visa has had four CEOs. We've never made a fuss about any of them. That's because Visa is such a good business that it doesn't really matter who runs it.

For the record, they were Joseph Saunders (2007-2012), Charles Scharf (2012-2016), Alfred F. Kelly Jr. (2016-2022) and Ryan McInerney (2023-present).

The late, great Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet's partner at Berkshire Hathaway, once said "betting on the quality of a business is better than betting on the quality of management. In other words, if you have to choose one, bet on the business momentum, not the brilliance of the manager."