lunch at Gorat’s, the old steakhouse that he likes that was terrible,” Root laughs. “But it was fun. Slathered gravy over this two-dollar steak, and it was great. “I tried to get a game of Bridge going with Warren after lunch, but the other folks I was with admitted they weren’t very good and that you need four to play.” Root earned his MBA at Stanford – and expanded his personal rolodex. classmates started Trulia and made hundreds of millions of dollars... Another one, she’s super smart and a triathlete. So instead of coming back to New York to a hedge fund or private-equity firm like a lot of us, she decided to stick out West where she could train full-time for the triathlon. So she worked at a promising little company called Facebook (FB) and crushed it. There are lots of stories like that. “That’s also where I became really good friends with a guy who ultimately became my business partner for my hedge fund. And that triathlete... she later invested in my hedge fund.” But first, Root was intrigued with learning from the best traders on the planet... “There were lots of great investors and entrepreneurs in my class. Two of my
“We also made a big investment to buy a health insurer and began to roll up a fragmented part of the industry focused on government-sponsored managed care services – like Medicaid and Medicare. I was intimately involved in this investment that went on to become WellCare Health and largest single investment at the firm at the time.” Both investments eventually went public and were big winners for Soros. “I debated staying at Soros for longer,” says Root. “But I figured I’d apply to a couple business schools and, if I was lucky to get into them, I’d do that. And so, I got into Stanford. “Stanford has more of a growth equity and new technology bias. And for the most part, having done restructuring, having done private equity – which while it was growth- focused, I still spent most of my time looking at more old-economy companies... And so I wanted to see more of the growth side of the world.” That’s also when Root had the chance to meet Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. “One of my professors was an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway and set up the trip for a handful of us. We came into Omaha the day before. And we checked out some of Buffett’s businesses like Nebraska Furniture Mart and the jewelry place, Borsheims.” Root notes that he took the opportunity to buy his wife a watch as a wedding gift there. “The next day, we spent at Buffett’s offices – he spoke to us and answered questions about investing for hours. Then, we went to
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January 2020
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