Money
Investor's Frontline Mistake Cost Him 200X Returns After Quick Double
We Study Billionaires
TIP812: Mohnish Pabrai: Berkshire & Letting Winners Run w/ Mohnish Pabrai
"I bought a stock with basically no downside. Very quickly I doubled my money and patted myself on the back and exited. And then I saw it go up 200x after that or more. Last year, I happened to have a trip to Norway. I'd never been to Norway in my life. And I'm at this conference for offshore drillers, whatever, in Norway. That's where I went, right? And they say that we have a field trip which is not on the schedule. If you guys want to go on the field trip, the field trip is to the headquarters of Frontline."
Mohnish Pabrai sold Frontline after doubling his money in 2002, only to watch it appreciate 200 times more. Years later, fate brought him to Frontline's ornate Norwegian headquarters where he saw physical replicas of the VLCC ships that generated those massive returns. The experience reinforced a critical lesson about holding great companies even when fairly valued, as trimming winners too early is one of the biggest mistakes investors make.