The magazine has put Buffett on its cover ("Buffett"s Electric Car") along with the BYD E6, for a major story on Berkshire Hathaway"s investment last fall in the Chinese company that is working to challenge the world"s biggest automakers in the electric car arena. The cover asks, "If the Oracle"s plugging in, shouldn"t you?"
In the article by Marc Gunther, we learn that the idea of investing $230 million for 10 percent of the "obscure Chinese battery, mobile phone, and electric car company" first came from Buffett"s partner Charlie Munger.
Munger had met BYD"s driving force, Wang Chuan-Fu, through a mutual friend, and was uncharacteristically enthusiastic. Munger describes Wang to Fortune: "This guy is a combination of Thomas Edison and (former General Electric Chairman) Jack Welch - something like Edison in solving technical problems, and something like Welch in getting done what he needs to do.
