Warren Buffett’s top 10 holdings are making him about $840
million in one day
On Berkshire’s annual letter:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/28/berkshire-buffett-letter-idUSL1N0W20IO20150228
2014 Letter:
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2014ltr.pdf
Annual letters back to 1977:
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html
Gates thoughts:
http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/03/bill-gates-talks-about-warren-buffetts-annual-letter/
Article posted from Reuters below:
Warren Buffett released his annual letter to Berkshire
Hathaway shareholders on Saturday, written with his usual mix of business
facts, common-sense advice and showmanship. This year marks the 50th
anniversary of Buffett’s time heading the sprawling conglomerate.
On a potential successor:
“Both
the board and I believe we now have the right person to succeed me as CEO – a
successor ready to assume the job the day after I die or step down. In certain
important respects, this person will do a better job than I am doing.”
On investing:
“Periodically, financial markets will
become divorced from reality – you can count on that. … ever forget that 2+2
will always equal 4. And when someone tells you how old-fashioned that math is
— zip up your wallet, take a vacation and come back in a few years to buy
stocks at cheap prices.”
On
oversight:
“We do, of course, have an active
audit function; no sense being a dammed fool.”
On lodging for the May 2 annual meeting in
Omaha:
“Airbnb is making a special effort to
obtain listings for the period around meeting time and is likely to have a wide
array of accommodations to offer. Airbnb’s services may be especially helpful
to shareholders who expect to spend only a single night in Omaha and are aware
that last year a few hotels required guests to pay for a minimum of three
nights. That gets expensive. Those people on a tight budget should check the
Airbnb website.”
On the meeting as spectacle:
“Get up early on Saturday morning. At
6:20 a.m., Norman and Jake, two Texas longhorns each weighing about a ton, will
proceed down 10th Street to the CenturyLink. Aboard them will be a couple of
our Justin Boot executives, who do double duty as cowboys. Following the steers
will be four horses pulling a Wells Fargo stagecoach. Berkshire already markets
planes, trains and automobiles. Adding steers and stagecoaches to our portfolio
should seal our reputation as America’s all-purpose transportation
company.”
On the GEICO gecko:
“The gecko, I should add, has one
particularly endearing quality – he works without pay. Unlike a human
spokesperson, he never gets a swelled head from his fame nor does he have an
agent to constantly remind us how valuable he is. I love the little guy.”
On
improving BNSF railroad service:
“Though weather, which was
particularly severe last year, will always cause railroads a variety of
operating problems, our responsibility is to do whatever it takes to restore
our service to industry-leading levels. That can’t be done overnight: The
extensive work required to increase system capacity sometimes disrupts
operations while it is underway. Recently, however, our outsized expenditures
are beginning to show results. During the last three months, BNSF’s performance
metrics have materially improved from last year’s figures.”
On
the future of Berkshire:
“All told, Berkshire is ideally
positioned for life after Charlie (Munger) and I leave the scene. We have the
right people in place – the right directors, managers and prospective successors
to those managers. Our culture, furthermore, is embedded throughout their
ranks. Our system is also regenerative. To a large degree, both good and bad
cultures self-select to perpetuate themselves. For very good reasons, business
owners and operating managers with values similar to ours will continue to be
attracted to Berkshire as a one-of-a-kind and permanent home.” (Reporting
by Luciana Lopez, Jonathan Stempel and Jennifer Ablan)
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