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Applied Underwriters sale information - https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/53946178

Happy 89th Birthday to Warren

That was great - right on cue. I would cover now

Thanks Dynamic. Good job with the formatting!

Berkshire looks about to borrow in Japanese Yen - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000119312519223905/d783972d424b5.htm https://www.nasdaq.com/article/berkshire-hathaway-hires-banks-for-secregistered-yen-bonds-20190819-00018 https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Buffett-s-Berkshire-to-issue-first-ever-yen-bonds A team! And a new "conflict of interest" disclosure:

Both age and fame of course. If you really want to hear him talk quick the CNBC video archive of his annual meetings from the early years shows a very different Buffett than today's canned responses. He didn't have to worry about every single thing he muttered being plastered on the news and moving markets back then. Remember when there was confusion over whether he had said the US dollar would be "worth less" or "worthless?" https://buffett.cnbc.com/annual-meetings/

Various media is reporting snippets from Ackman's shareholder letter - outlining his views on the Berkshire purchase: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-ackman-eyes-more-gains-000843746.html I suppose a letter will be posted to PSH's website sometime soon, but I don't think Q2 is up yet. ** Nevermind, here is the Q2 report: https://assets.pershingsquareholdings.com/2019/08/15175158/PSH-2019-Interim-Financial-Statements.pdf

We once had a 'subject to renovations' commercial loan appraisal come back too low. These appraisals are total guesses based on what they think the property will be worth after it is completely renovated. The banker had no issue just ordering a new one to get the higher number. Maybe that's not the norm. I'm sure we paid the $400-500 again though. We closed a different refinance yesterday - a 30 year conforming loan (check 30 year rates in the US if you haven't lately - they are really attractive) - where the appraisal came in at what I would estimate is 25% over the market value of the property. It actually caused the lender to require we purchase additional insurance on the property so it didn't really do us any favors. We all want the lowest value possible for tax purposes and a fair to high value for banking purposes... My wife has succeeded in getting our properties assessed at the lowest in the neighborhood for tax purposes. I think the assessor just doesn't want her showing up in the office again at this point...

wsj has an article highlighting Berkshire's $100 Billion investment in Banking / financial services. Whats the earnings yield on that $100 Billion? https://www.wsj.com/articles/warren-buffett-is-a-huge-backer-of-u-s-banks-11565775006?mod=hp_lead_pos6 ** in other Berkshire related news, the OXY-APC merger closed on August 8th, so $10 Billion has left Berkshire and commenced earning 8%.

Well they are not in negotiations to buyout GE at the moment, or Larry probably would refrain from buying his own stock - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/40545/000123120519000160/xslF345X03/edgar.xml

Treasury stock, at cost (5,242) They are treasury shares at the moment. No big difference as mentioned above

Well he has continued to add Bank of NY Mellon shares for several years. Isn't that similar? Either way, he's not going to own a too-big-to-fail bank outright. He bought a lot of bank stocks, but hasn’t touched the trust banks. I don’t think he has got much love for them.

Well that ended quickly...

Yeah I agree on chemicals and aerospace. Berkshire's preference has been for large business to business type industries for a while now. It's hard to do well with consumer products and its hard to get consumer products companies of meaningful size. Berkshire has probably learned its lessons with business to consumer stuff but we'll see. I do think he would take Mars's call and he was willing to do a leveraged buyout of Unilever a few short years ago.

I suppose if they were willing to give up their Bank charter. And if they weren't a bank, it would free up Berkshire to acquire Delta without worrying about the Fed fretting over a very material commercial relationship...

Not sure if there is already a thread discussing what the next material BRK acquisition will be (not including realtor offices and tiny crane operators here, just Billion dollar plus deals). I'll posit a few whole company buyouts that Warren might consider - CarMax, KMX Philips 66, PSX Home Depot, HD - although it is quite possible that he is completely done with retail Coca-Cola, KO DaVita, DVA - although he would probably rather steer clear of the healthcare industry entirely Honeywell, HON Boeing, BA General Electric, GE - in whole or in parts Mars, Inc - not likely that they would sell Progressive, PGR - would this deal even be allowed by regulators? Reyes Holdings - private company Costco, COST - seriously doubt it at this price and above Anyone know of some really large European private companies that would fit the bill? Interested to hear other idea speculation. Helps to pass the time between acquisitions - they are usually not the ones we speculate

Yeah, I agree - its a strong correlation with float growth but I really think its more of a reflection of the "problem" that money has always been flowing in faster than they can find intelligent places to put it. Float growth has been a material component of incoming cash, and both cash from operations and float increases have to be invested. Mungofitch over at the motely fool board showed how the overall allocation of cash to the entire investment portfolio isn't all that out of whack (I forget, but it's in the 30's % I think). Warren will probably borrow money as a component of any decently sized acquisition. So, with other assets to sell, Berkshire can realistically afford an acquisition up to, say, $200 billion, if the opportunity presents itself. Maybe he's holding out for Coke. Charlie certainly seemed to indicate it was Warren's dream sub. Realistically, Warren could probably spend more than $200 Billion for the right deal. In the last few decades, Berkshire has never really been valued based on the potential energy of its buying power until a deal is announced and that potential becomes "kenetic" earnings. No real value is given to the roller coaster chugging up the hill, and then the market suddenly thinks the company is worth more as it coasts down the other side.

Thanks cigarbutt - hope your daughter is doing well. I think I should add your first sentence to my posts going forward lol

I was wondering if Suncor was one Berkshire would consider acquiring (in its entirety, they already own a small position). I had noticed a bunch of private jet traffic between Omaha and Kelowna, but since Suncor is not located there I suppose it is unrelated... Only other frequent/recent NetJets trips to Omaha were from Van Nuys.

Occidental had a big response to their debt offering - "senior to Warren Buffett" is always a strong marketing tactic - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-06/occidental-begins-jumbo-bond-sale-to-fund-anadarko-purchase

Are you including the bond portfolio in "cash and equivalents" ? Just curious how you figure $139 Billion as the cash balance

Saw this posted on another board today as well http://sabercapitalmgt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/WFC-Unexciting-Idea-But-Exciting-Value-2019-07-01.pdf Wells looks good to me. I hope it's correct that Berkshire can stop selling.

I’m a buyer of BRK.B call options for Jan 2020 expiry today.

For the curious, BNSF's 10Q is filed this morning. Another $1.2 Billion in cash distributions to Berkshire, same as Q1. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/934612/000093461219000014/llc6301910q.htm And the Berkshire Hathaway Energy 10Q as well - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/71180/000108131619000014/bhe63019form10-q.htm

John, the first quarter 2019 repurchases cost $1.69 Billion. The second quarter repurchases cost $443 million (rounded up). 2.133 Billion minus 1.69 Billion gets you to the 443 The discrepancy in the Q1 cash flow statement likely results from the fact they were purchasing right up through quarter end (March 29th), and cash had not left the building for the settlement of some of the last shares purchased yet. That's why the number in cash flow statement says 1.585 B in Q1, when in fact 1.69 billion worth of shares had been purchased. Settlement is 3 days in the US