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ENTITY
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Eitan Wertheimer

Eitan Wertheimer is the Chairman and principal owner of ISCAR, the Israeli precision cutting-tool manufacturer acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2006. He is the son of ISCAR's founder, Stef Wertheimer, who built the business from a garage workshop. Eitan represents the second-generation stewardship that brought ISCAR to global leadership — and, ultimately, to Berkshire.

📝 The Letter That Started It All

In October 2005, Wertheimer sent Warren Buffett a 1¼-page handwritten letter proposing that Berkshire acquire ISCAR. No investment bankers. No auction process. No intermediaries. Just a direct approach grounded in admiration for Berkshire's ownership philosophy.

Buffett's reaction: "Character and talent just jumped off the page at me, and this was one of those letters, and it came from Israel."

The letter itself is the clearest single example of Berkshire's Buyer of Choice reputation transcending geography. A second-generation industrial family in Tefen, Israel had studied Berkshire's letters closely enough to know that the right buyer was in Omaha — and trusted the process enough to bypass the entire investment banking industry to get there.

📝 The Acquisition Philosophy

Wertheimer's decision to approach Berkshire directly (rather than run an auction) reflected a foundational belief: the long-term welfare of ISCAR's 5,869 employees and their families was more important than maximizing the sale price. This priority ordering is the core of the Buyer of Choice screen — it simultaneously identifies quality sellers and quality stewards.

At the 2006 Berkshire annual meeting, Wertheimer told 24,000 shareholders: "I'm standing here before you representing 5,869 people — not only the people, but the families, their past and their future."

🔗 Connections

📚 Historical Mentions & Citations (4)

Click a reference document below to expand and read the exact paragraph(s) containing this concept in the archive.

📜
2006 LetterExcerpt Available
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The highlight of the year, however, was our July 5th acquisition of most of ISCAR, an Israeli company, and our new association with its chairman, Eitan Wertheimer, and CEO, Jacob Harpaz. The story here began on October 25, 2005, when I received a 1¼-page letter from Eitan, of whom I then knew nothing. The letter began, “I am writing to introduce you to ISCAR,” and proceeded to describe a cutting-tool business carried on in 61 countries. Then Eitan wrote, “We have for some time considered the issues of generational transfer and ownership that are typical for large family enterprises, and have given much thought to ISCAR’s future. Our conclusion is that Berkshire Hathaway would be the ideal home for ISCAR. We believe that ISCAR would continue to thrive as a part of your portfolio of businesses.”
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🎙️
2006 MeetingExcerpt Available
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WARREN BUFFETT: But what did happen, and which we announced last night — which was very important — the acquisition of a large, extremely well-managed, profitable, really extraordinary company called ISCAR. And up until October of last year, I knew nothing of ISCAR. I did not know about their extraordinary management. But I got a letter, and I got a letter from Eitan Wertheimer, and — maybe a page and a half, page and a quarter — and he told me something about this business. And sometimes character and talents sort of just jump off the page at me, and this was one of those letters, and it came from Israel. And I expressed an interest, after reading this letter, in getting together with Eitan. And not long thereafter, I met not only Eitan, but his CEO and president, a remarkable man named Jacob Harpaz; Danny Goldman, the CFO. And we met in Omaha. They subsequently met Charlie. And this all came to fruition yesterday when we signed a contract. Now we have — well, before I go on to this, maybe Charlie would like to say a word or two about ISCAR. But, first of all, if Eitan Wertheimer would stand up and we can get the spotlight on him? Over there. OK. Eitan, let me introduce the other two, and then can we have you speak to the group? Jacob Harpaz is the president and the CEO. (Applause) Take a good look at these people because they’re going to make you — they’re going to do very, very well for you. And Danny Goldman. Danny, would you stand up? (Applause) Thank you. And if you’ll give the microphone to Eitan, I think Eitan would like to talk to the group just a bit.
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📜
2007 LetterExcerpt Available
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Iscar continues its wondrous ways. Its products are small carbide cutting tools that make large and very expensive machine tools more productive. The raw material for carbide is tungsten, mined in China. For many decades, Iscar moved tungsten to Israel, where brains turned it into something far more valuable. Late in 2007, Iscar opened a large plant in Dalian, China. In effect, we’ve now moved the brains to the tungsten. Major opportunities for growth await Iscar. Its management team, led by Eitan Wertheimer, Jacob Harpaz, and Danny Goldman, is certain to make the most of them.
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🎙️
2007 MeetingExcerpt Available
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WARREN BUFFETT: Well, that’s a very good question. And I would say that I know I probably bought my first stock outside the United States at least 50 years ago. It is not that we have not looked in the marketable securities field beyond this country, and we’ve made some investments there. It really wouldn’t make any difference to us if Coca-Cola was based in Amsterdam or Munich or Atlanta as long as they had the business they had. So we’re very involved in international business, but the hard fact is that in terms of buying entire businesses, we were simply not on the radar screen to the same extent — close to the same extend —outside the United States as we became in the United States. When we started in the United States, really, nobody knew anything about Berkshire, either, so we had — we had a selling job to do here, but we did not do the selling job — or I did not do the selling job — well abroad. And thanks to Eitan Wertheimer, he found us. And I think has contributed in a very significant way to getting us better known.
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