Letters

Has anyone thought to ask for a noncompete agreement? Also, 7 other things worth your time.

When Jeff Bezos announced he’ll be stepping aside as CEO of Amazon, I wondered for a second if he might have been the longest-tenured CEO in America.

Nope, I quickly realized. Not even close. For example, Warren Buffett has been CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970, when Bezos was six years old.

I’ve been reading all of Buffett’s annual shareholder letters for a project—at least the ones going back to 1977, which are online. There’s so much history there, and I realized something along the way: When he wrote many of these, Buffett couldn’t have had any idea that people like me would still be reading them years later.

But, you get some fascinating insights and fun stories when you do it this way.

One favorite starts out in 1983. On his birthday that year, Buffett met with an 89-year-old businesswoman named Rose Blumkin (known to all as "Mrs. B") to acquire 90 percent of her company, Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM), which she’d started with $500 in 1937.

"I'd rather wrestle grizz…