Surprising move from the man who said something along the lines of[1]:<p>"Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or some place. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head."<p>[1] <a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/05/25/bury-gold/" rel="nofollow">https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/05/25/bury-gold/</a>
Berkshire's public equity holdings are worth about $215bn. The Barrick position represents about 0.25% of that. It really isn't a big deal.<p>Aside from Buffett, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler each have about $10bn to invest - it is entirely possible that they made this investment without consulting Buffett (they don't have to ask for permission). In the past they've also bought Amazon - another non-Buffett pick.
Clarification for anyone going off the title. He bought stock in a <i></i>gold mining<i></i> company. Not gold itself.<p>I find the title to be a bit disingenous.
I suspect that gold is a very common metal throughout the inner solar system, and the asteroid belt. It’s only valuable now, because of its rarity on earth.<p>But once we can mine the lower gravity of Mars, then someone might dig up a gold mine.<p>And Venus I would suspect has a lot of gold. If we can slow it’s runaway global warming, then we might be able to establish a colony there, and mine gold.<p>The same concept goes for Mercury.<p>I’m surprised that the Moon hasn’t revealed trace elements of gold yet. I suspect that it might be buried deep inside the core, where it sunk, while the moon was still molten and forming. If someone can find a gold mine deposit there, then they can build a mass driver to launch it on a return trip back to earth. Or just use it to build new spacecraft in outer space.
Buffett spent the last six months panic selling. "Be fearful when others are fearful" is his new motto. He doesn't have the same political connections he had during the GFC to get in on the sweet government-backed bailout deals this time around.