Keep pulling the thread on Kyle Grieve.
Over a 47-year period, investor Shelby Davis grew an initial $50,000 investment into a $900 million fortune.
In 1975, GEICO announced a massive $126 million loss, which caused its stock to decline from $42 to $5 per share.
Warren Buffett advised GEICO to issue stock to raise capital when its shares were trading at rock-bottom prices to avoid insolvency.
Shelby Davis sold his entire stake in GEICO after the company decided to issue new shares at depressed prices to avoid insolvency, a decision he later regretted.
From 1969 to 1978, the New York Venture Fund returned 43%, while the S&P 500 was down 1.7% over the same period.
In the 1980s, Shelby Davis's insurance portfolio alone added over $500 million to his net worth.
Indian investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's single holding in Titan Industries accounted for $2 billion of his $4 billion net worth at the time of his death.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's investment in Titan Industries compounded at approximately 30% per year over his holding period of 20-25 years.
Shelby Davis owned 3,000 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, which grew to a value of $27 million during his lifetime and would be worth $2.2 billion today.
Since its inception in 1969, the New York Venture Fund Class A has compounded at 11.5% annually, outperforming the S&P 500 by 1% per year over the same period.
Shelby Davis believed that government policy, specifically the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in 1929, was more responsible for the Great Depression than corporate policy.
In 1941, Shelby Davis purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange for $33,000, a significant discount from its 1929 price of $625,000.