The Warren Buffett-Elon Musk style debate

BECKY FAST: You’re literally taking me away from the real story, which is kind of a war of words between you and Charlie and Elon. And I just want this: Do you know Elon Musk?

WARREN BUFFET: I never said anything about Elon to anyone. I mean, you know, you’re kind of pushing me to do this, but –

BECKY FAST: I am.

WARREN BUFFET: But I never – you know, I – people don’t like his car or anything, but –

But someone said they are talking about financing now. Something was said about this this morning. I thought I’d heard this before.

BECKY FAST: Yes. In fact, Warren – Andrew just read some headlines that thought Tesla might come back into the market to get additional financing. I’m not exactly sure.

WARREN BUFFET: Okay this —

BECKY FAST: All I heard was; All I heard was the headline.

WARREN BUFFET: I call this counter-revelation. So – (laughs) – you know, because I think they just said a few days ago that they didn’t need financing. IT –

But, you know, he’s trying to do something to improve a product. And for that I salute him. And the American people will decide whether it is successful or not. And — it’s not easy. You know? So too much –

It’s probably easier to develop a new car than to compete with Snickers.

But as you know, some products have great moats. Probably Elmer’s Glue it is. You know, WD-40. I mean, there you are.

You can – there are just some things that you’re not into – you’re very prone to be dissatisfied and searching – and incidentally, I would say, the iPhone has a terrific moat.

I mean, people who have an iPhone or maybe another phone. But they want to continue with the product they have. They want the new version. It’s easier for them now. They learned how to do everything, and their lives are based on that, and all that, and —

Moats are very useful.

Costco has a moat in people’s minds. So, you know…

Amazon could increase the price of Prime by 20 percent. And you can’t do that unless you build something that lives up to the Amazon Prime image, that’s grounded in reality, that you get a lot for your money and you want to use it. And then you can increase prices by $20.

But if you’re selling, you know, if you’re selling a commercial product, you can’t do that. You need a moat.