Reuters first to interview famed Morningstar money manager after public critique
10.15.2010
Reuters was first to interview famed Morningstar money manager Bruce Berkowitz, after hedge fund manager David Einhorn loudly and publicly critiqued one of Berkowitz’s top positions, St Joe Co. Berkowitz told Reuters on Oct 15 that he welcomed the attention on St Joe, and that he had bought shares in the Florida real estate developer since Einhorn’s attack, which sent the stock diving 11 percent. Berkowitz added that he was precluded from buying more shares of St Joe by a standstill agreement. The Wall Street Journal also talked to Berkowitz, but after Reuters. The war of words over St. Joe pits two of the most successful investors of the past decade against each other. Berkowitz, named Morningstar’s equity mutual fund manager of the decade last year, has outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index by 12 percentage points a year since 2000. Einhorn, whose Greenlight Capital has also beaten the market by a substantial margin, was among the first to warn of problems at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and other shaky financial firms.
