Over the weekend, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett wrote to shareholders saying he had reloaded his "elephant gun" and that his "trigger finger" was itching to pull off a major acquisition.
But he apparently just can't seem to find a good fit.
In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Buffett, who's now even more bullish on the American economy, reemphasized his desire to make a sizeable acquisition market, akin to his acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad last year. With plans to put a billion dollars toward acquisitions this year, Berkshire allegedly had an "iron in the fire" that fell through in the last couple days, but Buffett called the proposed acquisition merely zebra-sized.
Part of the problem surrounds Buffett's desire to find a "high probability" investment, one that he understands completely before acquirement. With major companies, he says that can be an issue. Here's more from Buffett:
It's going to be rare that we find something in the tens of billions of dollars where I understand the business, where the management wants to join Berkshire, where the price makes the deal feasible.
But the Berkshire CEO says the issue isn't only finding a elephant-sized company worth acquiring. It's finding an elephant that is willing to be acquired by what he describes as his "zoo."
Though he said an international acquisition isn't impossible, Buffett believes any acquisition partner will more likely be a domestic company.
Americans, Buffett said, "should be glad" emerging economies like China and India are catching up. He said he is more concerned about cotton prices than oil prices, believes the unemployment rate will fall to 7 percent by 2012, and said he has "enormous respect" for Ben Bernanke.
Buffett added that he doesn't see any need for an additional stimulus plan in the U.S. and issued his continued faith in the economy: "It does work. It sputters from time to time, it will sputter from time to time. But you don't want to get worried."
WATCH CNBC's interview with Buffett: