What the Yankees are to baseball and what Beethoven is to symphonic music, Sequoia is to the world of mutual funds. Simply the best. If you had invested $10,000 in Sequoia in 1970, your money would have been worth $1,315,850 at the close of the year 2000. | CCC-Boroson 4 135-184 8 28 01 1 28 PM Page 1 CHAPTER 21 William J. Ruane of Sequoia William J. Ruane Photo courtesy of Bachrach . What the Yankees are to baseball and what Beethoven is to symphonic music Sequoia is to the world of mutual funds. Simply the best. If you had invested 10 000 in Sequoia in 1970 your money would have been worth 1 315 850 at the close of the year 2000. Since 1970 Sequoia has beaten the S P 500 by an average of percentage points a year. See Figure . Alas Sequoia bolted its door to new investors in the year King John signed the Magna Carta or maybe it was only as recently as 1982 . The chairman of the Sequoia Fund is William J. Ruane. Silverhaired fair skin pleasant and charming speaks slowly and carefully. Easy to get along with. 145 CCC-Boroson 4 135-184 8 28 01 1 28 PM Page 1 146 WILLIAM J. RUANE OF SEQUOIA figure Sequoia Fund s Performance 1994-2001. Source . Ruane s office is in the General Motors Trump Building on 59th Street and Fifth Avenue with green marble and white marble in the lobby. Across the street from the Plaza a la Vieille Russe FAO Schwarz Bergdorf Goodman. Ruane s 47th-floor office simple and classic much dark wood no Quotron machine no Bloomberg has a gorgeous view of Central Park and parts north. Tasteful conservative interesting furniture. On an end table is Roger Lowenstein s biography of Warren Buffett. It called Ruane a straight arrow. In a bookcase James Kilpatrick s biography of Buffett along with many investment books stuff about Harvard photos of family books by Adam Smith a biography of Bernard Baruch. At 75 Ruane is still busy still searching for good stocks he divides his time as well as he can but puts his family first. He s chairman of the board of Ruane Cunniff Co. Richard T. Cunniff 78 is vice chairman Bob Goldfarb 56 is president and has been CEO for the past three years. A thread in our conversation How impressed he is with Goldfarb who has been a partner for 30 years and .
