Financial Superstar Hits A Rough Patch

New York Times:

FOR 15 years through 2005, Bill Miller, one of the country's most closely watched and widely worshiped stockpickers, made investments that handily beat stock market averages. But for the last two years, the market has handily pulverized him.

As the chairman of Legg Mason Capital Management, Mr. Miller helps oversee a $35 billion portfolio and is directly responsible for managing its marquee mutual fund, the $12 billion Legg Mason Value Trust. He says his recent travails have been humbling.

"I have been through periods like this before," he says thoughtfully, during a lengthy interview at the Baltimore headquarters of Legg Mason Inc., the holding company for all the Legg Mason entities. "The difference is that we are a lot larger and more visible, and so there is a lot more client focus than there was then."

But, really, a period like this? After all, the federal government has just bailed out Wall Street, and the broader economy has been on tenterhooks for months as fears of a recession -- or worse -- loom on the horizon.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[joebaggadonuts]

The article says Bill Miller thinks the worst is behind him. I don't know how he can believe that.

[castlerider]

I have a world of respect for the gentleman, he obviously cares greatly for his flock, and his business, but anyone who thought that Kodak could pull through today's digital age without major investment in the computer industry is seeing through the rose colored glass. Kodak used to run the roost with the paper and developing processes that were so advanced, but the digital age reduced all that to old stuff. Very sad, because lots of jobs ended up folding, and factories were closed, all that.
Kodak should have been smart and opened up their own line of computers while they had the chance. It would now be a hot commodity because the brand name and recognition is practically priceless. This alone could have placed and procured major investment towards this maneuver, and possibly still could..