William Ruane: the world’s greatest investors

William Ruane was a “growth at a reasonable price” investor akin to Warren Buffett, says Matthew Partridge.

Dr Matthew Partridge
By Dr Matthew Partridge
published

William Ruane was born in October 1925 in Chicago. He graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Minnesota and spent a brief time in the navy, followed by a short stint at General Electric. Hating life as an engineer, he decided to go to Harvard Business School, where he took a class in investing with Benjamin Graham, graduating in 1949. After two decades at investment bank Kidder Peabody he set up the Sequoia Fund in 1969, which he ran until his death in 2005.

What was his strategy?

price/earnings (p/e) ratios

Did it work?

What was his best investment?

What other lessons does he have for investors?

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Dr Matthew Partridge

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri

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