Buffett's Success: Skill or Luck?

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Thanks to a 50-for-1 stock split in January, Warren Buffett's Baby Berks (BRK.B) (BRK.B) were added to the S&P 500, and that will be reflected in many index ETFs starting Tuesday.

Now, aside from playing BRK.B via the common stock, investors will soon be able to gain direct exposure to Buffett's company via financial instruments like the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial Index Fund (IYF).

With a nearly unmarked, multidecade record of beating the S&P 500 and a knack for picking winning companies, Buffett is viewed by many as the world's greatest investor. Due to his investing prowess, the Oracle of Omaha has amassed a following that includes not only retail investors, but market commentators and politicians. When Buffett makes a move, both Wall Street and Main Street listen.

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Still, despite his many successes and droves of admirers, there are observers who are not overly impressed by Buffett's tenure. Last week, in an interview for an online magazine, Nassim Taleb, author of Black Swan, took a jab at Buffett's investing savvy, saying that there is not enough statistical evidence to say that Buffett's investing success can't be attributed to chance.

Offering up an example of a more statistically impressive investor, Taleb pointed to George Soros .

Taleb's apathetic attitude towards Buffett's track record is based on his belief that, in a large enough pool of random investors, there will always be a small number of people who outperform the masses. In this scenario Buffett happened to be this inevitable outlier. In his most recent controversial comment, Taleb insists that he does not feel that Buffett is unskilled, but that his success can largely be attributed to random luck.

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