Abchat Weekly Wrap Up: Welcome to the future, @WarrenBuffett

Warren is in the house. That was the first tweet from legendary US investor Warren Buffett, as he made his Twitter debut yesterday. Joining the social network is an interesting move for a man who famously shuns technology: he has no computer on his desk and does not own a mobile phone; in fact his biggest foray into technology until now was playing bridge online. Perhaps it shows how far social media has come, to get Buffet on board.

In a weird coincidence, Buffet joined Twitter that same day that it took on Cynthia Gaylor, an ex-employee of Morgan Stanley who has experience in acquisitions and IPOs. This has fuelled speculation that Twitter might float on the stock exchange some time in the near future. Although Buffet will probably not be investing, given his opinion that it’s too hard to estimate the future value of social media companies.

Buffet was always going to be popular, judging by the amount of fans he has as ‘America’s favorite investor’. This certainly rings true online: within ten minutes of signing up, 10,000 people were following – the number now stands at over 260,000 just eighteen hours later. However he has not started following anyone and has only tweeted twice so far, which suggests he may not be the most active of users. If he could just start tweeting investment advice (better still, direct message!) that would be much appreciated. Come on Warren!



Abchaps were busy this week hosting two Market Lunches; one Natural resources focused, and the other focused on Digital Media use in the City. We also attended the Bloomberg PE Mining event; BioWednesday and the Digital Youth Academy’s launch of the first London Social Media Apprenticeship, hosted by Penny Power.



Twitter appoints Cynthia Gaylor, an investment banker from Morgan Stanley with extensive financing experience, fuels speculation that the technology media company is preparing for an IPO.

Oriel Securities and Cenkos, the stockbroking houses, are said to be in talks over joining forces to compete with big banks for corporate advisory business. They hope a joint marketing and education campaign will make potential client companies more aware of their services offerings and UK-focused sales desks.

Law firm, Taylor Wessing, appointed a new partner in its private client practice. Sanjeev Shah joins from Speechly Bircham and has a wide experience in advising wealthy foreign domiciled individuals and families on personal affairs.



'Economic Moat' - The competitive advantage that one company has over other companies in the same industry (phrase coined by Warren Buffet)



Soak up the sun this bank holiday weekend at one, or many of London’s buzzing events scattered round the City this weekend:

North London Vintage Market on Saturday 4 May plays host to 23 stallholders selling ‘50’s through to ‘80s fabrics, furniture, clothing and ceramics.

Canalway Cavaclade 2013 (4 -6 May) in Little Venice makes for a very English family affair, with a colourful gathering of canal boats mooring along the stretch of the Grand Union Canal, real ales, jazz bands, Morris dancers and Punch and Judy shows

For the foodies, the Southbank Centre plays host to the Real Food Festival and Streets of Spain Market. Running from Friday 3 – Monday 6 May, the two free food festivals celebrate both the evocative culture and culinary delights of Spain as well as the more British-specialities of hand-made chocolates, artisan cheeses, breads, olive oils, cooking demonstrations, live animals and music.

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