The Massachusetts state pension fund pulled $2 billion in assets from Legg Mason Inc.'s Bill Miller and four other firms as part of a plan to shift all U.S. equity assets from managers who actively pick stocks to buy and sell. Another genius with feet of clay
Seriously, the guy had a 16 year winning record, and everyone is dumping on him because he got pounded recently (along with almost everyone else). I do not understand how people can give up on such a proven quantity because he suffered a downturn in the treacherous waters that have been '08. He will rise again, sooner rather than later.
Miller is overweight financials and tech wile underweight energy and materials. This served him well untill financials started to suck and energy/materials took off. His strategy wont work for a long, long time. The reason everyone is selling is because he REFUSED to change his investment philosophy back in 2004 and is now going down with the ship. This is a case study for Business management 101 and the hubris that can go along with a successful leader. Miller is a dipshit and deserves to die by the sword.
I always assume the same pigheadedness that allowed outperformance is the reason for the current debacle. How to give credit for that? Now, if you tell me he suffered brain damage the last 5 years, then we can say nice things about his old self. This is the nature of luck. It eventually runs out.
I unloaded all my financials in mid 06 when I saw all the schmucks that were buying McMansions who should have never qualified for those loans. I cannot see why Miller did not see this? It was plain as day, no rocket science. The writing was on the wall when retards with barely a HS education were harping on how they were able to get a 500K loan for a mc mansion.
Maybe Warren Buffet is an idiot, too, since he's down, and follows the exact same investing thesis as Miller: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=asNu6HYGu7eI&refer=home