Chris Davis
The Steward
Legacy, values and the long now, leadership as care and continuity.
Chris Davis embodies The Steward through a philosophy of permanent ownership that extends beyond capital to relationships and culture. The Davis Advisors chairman insists on holding businesses forever and rejects exit-strategy thinking altogether, a conservator's stance in an industry organised around the sale. His lean team, averaging twenty years together, mirrors the portfolio: continuity and compounding are the point, and transactional gain is treated as a distraction from intergenerational custodianship.
“We view ourselves as business owners. We view the management as our partners. We view the signs of short termism as dangerous.”
“Our goal is to own it forever. Our goal is for the return to be driven by the year earnings yield on the business over time, not by some change in the valuation and finding an exit strategy.”
“We're a frugal place. I work with seven colleagues. We've been together on average twenty years. We would do this with no outside money because of the inside money.”
Masters in Business: “Beating the S&P For Generations with Davis Funds Chairman Chris Davis”
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