Buffett/Berkshire - general news

[Xerxes]

You said it best John 

[NnnnotSoSmart]

Who bought the GOOGL?  Buffett/Ted/Todd?

 

I say Buffett given size of position. Others on the web say no, Buffet would never buy it.

 

Am thinking a 95 yr old Buffett did another deep dive and concluded GOOGL is an unstoppable, reasonably priced monster with multiple moats. Its future on multiple fronts (web services, You Tube, Waymo, TPUs, search?) looks bright.

 

When the facts changed, he changed his mind. 

 

Given GOOGL's rise in price since Q3, will BRK's position be same, smaller or larger in Q4?  

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Edited November 17, 2025 by NnnnotSoSmart

[gfp]

I was thinking that Buffett was winding down some of "his" portfolio and wouldn't be making major new stock buys in his new role.  But he added to Chubb and I think that position is actually his.  So who knows on Google...  But I think the idea people have on the size of Ted or Todd's portfolios and how big a position they can take is generally out of date.  And, of course, they can be allocated additional capital at any time.

 

I'm looking forward to the NAIC filings for National Indemnity to see if there are any hints on who bought the Google.  Buffett and Todd use the same broker generally but Ted uses a different firm for most stuff.

 

 

[John Hjorth]

35 minutes ago, gfp said:

I was thinking that Buffett was winding down some of "his" portfolio and wouldn't be making major new stock buys in his new role.  But he added to Chubb and I think that position is actually his.  So who knows on Google...  But I think the idea people have on the size of Ted or Todd's portfolios and how big a position they can take is generally out of date.  And, of course, they can be allocated additional capital at any time.

 

I'm looking forward to the NAIC filings for National Indemnity to see if there are any hints on who bought the Google.  Buffett and Todd use the same broker generally but Ted uses a different firm for most stuff.

 

Yes, we haven't heard from Mr. Buffett about these two gentlemen for a long time now, I speculate perhaps USD 15 - 20 B per nose for them to mess around with by now?

Edited November 17, 2025 by John Hjorth

[gfp]

3 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

 

Yes, we haven't heard from Mr. Buffett about these two gentlemen for a long time now, I speculate perhaps USD 15 - 20 B per nose for them to mess around with by now?

 

I don't know - it's complicated by the fact that a large portion of what they manage is pension fund stuff that isn't technically "Berkshire's money."  Through returns and increased allocations I think you could be in the ballpark.  Warren and/or Greg could decide to double their AUM any time though.  Maybe Greg will be more transparent about it.  Not holding my breath

[gfp]

Hope this is legible.  Berkshire bought Alphabet in early August at around $192.87 / share

 

[gfp]

Here is the Q3 NAIC filing for National Indemnity.

20087.2025.P.Q3.P.O.3.5048987.pdf

 

 

trying to remember who likes these - @wabuffo

Edited November 17, 2025 by gfp

[gfp]

43 minutes ago, gfp said:

Hope this is legible.  Berkshire bought Alphabet in early August at around $192.87 / share

 

 

 

Sooo...  That means someone, maybe Todd Combs, maybe Warren but I'm doubting it, bought something like $3.44 billion worth of GOOGL stock and is already up 50% on the position.   Not too shabby 

[wabuffo]

45 minutes ago, gfp said:

Here is the Q3 NAIC filing for National Indemnity.

20087.2025.P.Q3.P.O.3.5048987.pdf 2.72 MB · 8 downloads

 

 

trying to remember who likes these - @wabuffo

Thanks man!

 

Bill

Edited November 17, 2025 by wabuffo

[Jay Rent]

On 11/14/2025 at 4:32 PM, Munger_Disciple said:

 

I was not referring to you or anyone else by name.  Sorry if you took it the wrong way. In stead, I was discussing people (as a category) who seem to really want a dividend w/o understanding that there is a cost to it, when they can simply manufacture one easily that's far more advantageous for them. This would also enable each shareholder to take the "self manufactured dividend" at a time of their choosing w/o forcing others into it. 

Except the index funds which invest in Berkshire cannot do this. 

[jbwent63]

1 hour ago, gfp said:

 

 

Sooo...  That means someone, maybe Todd Combs, maybe Warren but I'm doubting it, bought something like $3.44 billion worth of GOOGL stock and is already up 50% on the position.   Not too shabby 

This is just for NICO I believe, so the rest of the shares were purchased in other entities not part of NICO....BH parent, for example.

[gfp]

4 minutes ago, jbwent63 said:

This is just for NICO I believe, so the rest of the shares were purchased in other entities not part of NICO....BH parent, for example.

 

My figure, $3.44 Billion, is the total share count purchased by all of Berkshire (not just the 11.3m shares at NICO).  there will be other shares purchased in other insurance companies but this is most of the stock and in my experience the average prices are usually very similar across the board.  The filing represents around 63% of the position.

[zzzyx]

6 hours ago, NnnnotSoSmart said:

Who bought the GOOGL?  Buffett/Ted/Todd?

 

I say Buffett given size of position. Others on the web say no, Buffet would never buy it.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Buffett.  He has a long history with media/advertising companies which is (I believe) the bulk of Google's earnings.  Like a TV/radio network and huge newspaper all in one.

[valueinvesting101]

5 hours ago, gfp said:

Hope this is legible.  Berkshire bought Alphabet in early August at around $192.87 / share

 

Thanks a lot @gfp for posting these. 

Does this mean they bought 4.3 million shares of Chubb on 09/23/2025? Seems like almost 30% of the volume on that day. 
Even for Google that seems to be 29% of the volume for that day. I thought WEB always wanted to stay below 25% of the traded volume. 

 

[Intelligent_Investor]

I mean Warren and Charlie did say that they should have bought Google way earlier and that was one of their biggest mistakes. If it is Warren he probably realized there isn't really a better investment within his circle of competence that can move the needle for Berkshire. Charlie in his later years did basically say that if Berkshire wanted to continue doing better than average they would eventually need to own tech in some capacity given how much tech drives the market these days.

[gfp]

17 minutes ago, valueinvesting101 said:

Thanks a lot @gfp for posting these. 

Does this mean they bought 4.3 million shares of Chubb on 09/23/2025? Seems like almost 30% of the volume on that day. 
Even for Google that seems to be 29% of the volume for that day. I thought WEB always wanted to stay below 25% of the traded volume. 

 

 

No that's probably the day that Wallachbeth Capital delivered the shares to them after working an order - it could be a VWAP based thing.  The price / average price is correct, but the exact date isn't a single trade.  It's an "institutional execution partner" type outfit - they use all kinds of tools to get an order filled.  Block trades, algorithms, dark pools, exchanges, who the hell knows.  But Warren and Todd like to use Wallacbeth and Ted likes to use "Glen Eagle Wealth"

https://wallachbeth.com

https://gleneagleadv.com

[charlieruane]

Do we known/suspect who initiated the DPZ position? If not, I suspect... Todd. Todd once mentioned he's a big fan of Tom Bancroft; Bancroft has a major DPZ position. 

 

Speculative, I realize. 

Edited November 17, 2025 by charlieruane

[Munger_Disciple]

39 minutes ago, charlieruane said:

Do we known/suspect who initiated the DPZ position? If not, I suspect... Todd. Todd once mentioned he's a big fan of Tom Bancroft; Bancroft has a major DPZ position. 

 

Speculative, I realize. 

 

Don't know much about Bancroft (other than that he once worked for GEICO in the investments area) but his fund seems to be in a liquidation mode. Either he is about to close shop or his investors are bailing or both. AUM went from $600mm at the end of 2025 to $194mm now in 9 months, a huge drop.  

Edited November 18, 2025 by Munger_Disciple

[cubsfan]

4 hours ago, Intelligent_Investor said:

I mean Warren and Charlie did say that they should have bought Google way earlier and that was one of their biggest mistakes. If it is Warren he probably realized there isn't really a better investment within his circle of competence that can move the needle for Berkshire. Charlie in his later years did basically say that if Berkshire wanted to continue doing better than average they would eventually need to own tech in some capacity given how much tech drives the market these days.

 

I think Google may have been one of those "don't touch stocks" since Ron Olson was attorney for Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

[charlieruane]

2 hours ago, cubsfan said:

I think Google may have been one of those "don't touch stocks" since Ron Olson was attorney for Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Whoa! And Ron Olson recently left the board. 

[gfp]

7 hours ago, Munger_Disciple said:

 

Don't know much about Bancroft (other than that he once worked for GEICO in the investments area) but his fund seems to be in a liquidation mode. Either he is about to close shop or his investors are bailing or both. AUM went from $600mm at the end of 2025 to $194mm now in 9 months, a huge drop.  

 

Don't know much about him but this is my kind of fee structure!  How many of you money manger bros on this forum are ready to take a percentage of your outperformance over SPX total return?

 

[Munger_Disciple]

9 hours ago, gfp said:

 

Don't know much about him but this is my kind of fee structure!  How many of you money manger bros on this forum are ready to take a percentage of your outperformance over SPX total return?

 

 

Does charge a management fee (AUM used to be as high as $900mm) in addition to incentive comp, so it's not like he is starving by any measure. 

 

He has been & continues to be a huge cable bro (CHTR/Liberty 23% of assets): https://www.dataroma.com/m/holdings.php?m=MP and that's probably a big factor for his bad performance which caused all the redemptions & will likely result in closing of the fund. 

 

[gfp]

Just now, Munger_Disciple said:

 

Does charge a management fee (AUM used to be as high as $900mm) in addition to incentive comp, so it's not like he is starving by any measure. 

 

He has been & continues to be a huge cable bro (CHTR/Liberty 23% of assets): https://www.dataroma.com/m/holdings.php?m=MP and that's probably a big factor for his bad performance which caused all the redemptions & will likely result in closing of the fund. 

 

Ask around and see who charges less!

[Munger_Disciple]

2 minutes ago, gfp said:

Ask around and see who charges less!

 

Fair point!

The only other similar incentive comp structure is for Todd & Ted (designed by Warren & Charlie), but with just $1mm salary. 

Edited November 18, 2025 by Munger_Disciple

[Spooky]

9 hours ago, gfp said:

 

Don't know much about him but this is my kind of fee structure!  How many of you money manger bros on this forum are ready to take a percentage of your outperformance over SPX total return?

 

 

This is great. More money managers should put their money where their mouth is. If you can't beat the S&P500 then why should you get huge fees.