He's absolutely a stock picker, not a businessman. That's the definition of value investing, which is his self proclaimed mode of investment. He looks for undervalued (by the stockmarket) companies with good cash flow, competent management, room to grow, etc. and waits until the market price catches up to his expectations. Meanwhile, he leaves the management alone to do their best work while reinvesting the cash flow (from dividends) into other undervalued companies. Most financial institutions were probably undervalued after the 2008 collapse so if Buffet saw an undervalued cash flow positive business, that's why he invested.