Dorsey: Sum-of-the-Parts Valuations Are Absurd Without Explicit Catalysts to Break Up
Pat Dorsey · Moat Investing Nuances – Pat Dorsey (EP.509) · Jul 6, 2026 · at 1:09:30
Pat Dorsey, founder of Dorsey Asset Management, discusses his biggest pet peeve in investing when asked rapid-fire closing questions by Ted Seides.
0:00 / 0:37exact quote · 37.9s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“And investing is probably some of the parts valuations. They're absurd. If it's a company that's clearly articulated, hey, we're going to break up or we're going to sell off this division or whatever, But if it's a company that has given no evidence that these disparate parts will be separated, you can howl at the moon all you want. But it's never going to get realized by the market. I've just never understood those. And if you're an activist, sure, and you can fight to get on the board and break up the company, great. But as a passive minority investor who might own one 10th of one percent of the company, why does the world care that you think some of the parts is X and the stock's trading at Y?”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Pat Dorsey
Dorsey: Buffett's Maxim About Idiot-Proof Businesses Has Done More Harm Than Good
“That phrase from Buffett has probably done more harm than good over time to a lot of investors in not interrogating the quality of management or underweighting signals that maybe capital allocation is poor, that management's incentives aren't aligned because t…”
Dorsey: Founder-Run Businesses Perform No Better Than Non-Founder-Owned Companies
“I don't think they're any better than non-founder owned businesses.”
Dorsey: 99.9% of American CEOs Are Overpaid Relative to Value Created
“99.9% of American CEOs are overpaid relative to the value they create.”
Dorsey: Adobe's Aggressive Pricing Makes Customers Eager to Switch to AI
“You're seeing this right now with Adobe. There's an AI problem here. Had they not been so aggressive in pricing over time, would the customers be as willing to switch to new AI tools? It's an interesting counterfactual to think about.”
Dorsey: Dorsey Passed on CoStar Due to CEO Stock Sales and Misalignment
“The CEO in that case was successful, but for a founder, he largely had sold stock along the way, so he didn't retain a large ownership stake in the company. If all that spend and competing with Zillow didn't work out, shareholders were probably going to suffer…”
Dorsey: Fortune 500 CEOs Rise via Corporate Politics, Not Capital Allocation
“How does someone get to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a Euro stocks 50 company? By demonstrating skill as a capital allocator all through their career? That's a giant pile of hooey. They do it by being a good self promoter, a good corporate politician…”