gfp

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

One small note I noticed so far this morning refers to Pilot Flying J (page 11 of the 10Q) as having "nearly $30 Billion in annual revenues." What was interesting to me is that this time last year, the 10Q described it this way, "approximately $20 Billion in annual revenue."

What is your source for the quote? Not the 10Q

Looks like ~ $442 million worth of repurchases in the quarter And looks like Friday's close was almost exactly at 1.3x quarter end Book Value - BVPS is 156.08 Cash at $122 Billion, $200 billion stock portfolio (ex KHC), $20 Billion bond portfolio, float rising at $1 Billion / quarter to $125 B

https://www.omaha.com/news/metro/downtown/bill-murray-and-warren-buffett-spotted-at-ted-and-wally/article_c53c04b0-5ed4-5df8-83af-859a8eba3581.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/02/warren-buffett-and-bill-murray-hung-out-and-told-jokes.html

That makes sense - it was probably the original airline investment for Berkshire by Ted Weschler - he was the Doug Parker fan who got Berkshire into airlines first. And I believe a good bit of what Ted and Todd manage is in subsidiary pension plans.

Hey Dynamic - do you have the American Airlines position size correct in the spreadsheet? Thanks and good work as always

Berkshire Hathaway Energy's CalEnergy Resources subsidiary is doing a deal with a distressed company in Britain - https://www.ft.com/content/190b6088-afb7-11e9-8030-530adfa879c2 https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/204416/independent-oil-and-gas-agrees-landmark-north-sea-farmout/ https://www.offshore-mag.com/field-development/article/14036954/iog-joining-forces-with-calenergy-for-north-sea-hub-gas-project Maybe 200 million dollars or a bit more when all said and done. Here is IOG's press release on the deal - maybe the most clear: https://www.independentoilandgas.com/news_detail.php?Title=%20Farm-out%20of%20Southern%20North%20Sea%20Assets

Yeah, the timing of the filing was based on BAC's quarterly results. The press release with supplemental financial details was filed on July 17th. Usually Berkshire would wait until a couple days after the 10Q to file something like their Form 3, which was required once they learned of the most recent share count. In this case, I don't think BAC has even filed their 10Q yet unless I am missing it somewhere. But the 8K had enough in it that someone probably made the call to file the Form 3. Its still an SEC filing with a share count listed after all... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/70858/000007085819000037/0000070858-19-000037-index.htm ** now that I look at the Form 3, it actually says, "date of even requiring statement: 7/17/2019" - which would be the BAC filing linked above. I wonder where the 10Q is?

I think Warren knew the pace of BAC's repurchases. He probably is expecting to be able to keep the position given the evolving guidance on what constitutes "control" as far as the Fed is concerned. I wouldn't be surprised if Berkshire is allowed to stop selling Wells shares as well. He may not buy more, but I would expect the government to allow Berkshire to drift up passively. BRK owns more than 18% of American Express, which itself is a bank holding company.

Congratulations to you Gregmal - a good trade on Alphabet and bottom-ticked Howard Hughes

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-25/buffett-lunch-mystery-deepens-as-his-date-apologizes-to-society?srnd=premium Further details suggest the kidney stones were a fib. Chinese regulators had an issue with the excessive promotion apparently. https://www.wsj.com/articles/excessive-self-promotion-justin-sun-apologizes-after-postponing-charity-lunch-with-warren-buffett-11564043243?mod=hp_featst_pos1

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-22/buffett-s-charity-lunch-with-crypto-investor-sun-is-postponed

longinvestor is probably referring to the Fed's clarification of what will trigger Bank Holding Company oversight going forward. Here is some material on the potential future clarifications / implications for Berkshire's forced selling and position sizing of banking investments -> https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/bcreg20190423a.htm (links towards bottom, including a chart) a commentary - https://www.morganlewis.com/blogs/finreg/2019/04/gnostic-secrets-now-revealed-a-first-take-on-the-feds-bank-holding-company-act-control-proposal

BNSF getting some pretty great borrowing rates - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/934612/000119312519194621/d770717d424b2.htm

Here's a pdf of a recent article on Iscar in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. I saved it as a pdf because it requires registration to read. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-how-warren-buffett-bought-the-best-industrial-firm-in-israel-1.7497532?=&ts=_1563133910334 iscar.pdf

https://www.wsj.com/articles/oxymoron-alert-some-high-yield-bonds-go-negative-11563096601?mod=hp_lead_pos4 It will be interesting to see if Berkshire revisits the European debt markets and can pull off some negative yielding bonds at issuance. You could tell it was a point of pride for him when he issued the SQUARZ securities years ago (they did not work out to be a good deal for Berkshire). So he certainly does have a curiosity towards issuing negative yielding paper. Not as good as insurance float but probably better than the volatility of the index put float.