Buffett/Berkshire - general news

[Pellom]

I would also guess the "discount to intrinsic value" hurdle is likely to be less burdensome going forward. The price has basically been in the same spot for a year, but Warren didn't buy any shares. I'm sure Greg is aware Berkshire gets away with having a ton of cash because we all expect Warren to take a big swing at some point, but he's not going to have that same luxury. 

[gfp]

49 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

On the letter he says no cash dividend as long as “better opportunity” etc … than share buyback comes in a week later. 
 

last I checked buybacks are also funded from the same “well of T-bill” where cash dividend funding comes from 

 

——-

 

on a different note, the more intriguing part of the letter was the grouping of US-based Forever4 in the letter that included Moody’, but not larger market cap name
 

alongside there Forever5 in Japan. 

 

part 1: as long as the company trades in the market for more that book value, a dollar retained is worth more inside the company than paid out and taxed.  repurchases will ramp up to very large numbers as the stock price approaches book value so it may never happen or be very very rare that it trades at .99x BVPS.

 

part 2: Sure gotta believe Brian Moynihan was like, wait, what?!

[cubsfan]

2 hours ago, Whensthepaintdry? said:

I know they said it was a one time announcement, but it feels pretty strange for BRK. 

 

Totally!

[charlieruane]

Anyone have a link to the full Abel CNBC appearance? Hard to track down these clips. 

[Munger_Disciple]

It's a bit odd that Berkshire had to announce that they restarted the share repurchases, given that this policy has been in place for several years now. And the 10-K that was just filed also reiterated it anyhow.

 

Regardless, I am pleased with Abel's commitment to the company and I think we long term shareholders are in safe hands with him. 

Edited March 5 by Munger_Disciple

[gfp]

3 minutes ago, charlieruane said:

Anyone have a link to the full Abel CNBC appearance? Hard to track down these clips. 

 

Is this the whole thing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMcgQ4mbc40

 

 

Joe Kernan, "Is it a gut feeling??"

 

Edited March 5 by gfp

[charlieruane]

There's also this one: 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/03/05/berkshire-ceo-greg-abel-on-succeeding-warren-buffett-i-still-check-in-with-him-nearly-every-day.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar

 

Joe Kernen is a scourge.

[Spooky]

2 hours ago, gfp said:

 

I loaded up whatever the opposite of a "large slug" is.  Less than a small slug.  At better prices than that piker Greg for sure but he has other things to do.  

I probably bought an even smaller slug… two shares of BRK.B haha. Glad I’m on the same wavelength as Greg, Parsad and GFP. Great minds…

 

Very happy with Abel buying more stock as well as Berkshire buying back more as well.

[charlieruane]

Also found this transcript of his comments re: putting his salary into BRK.A: 

 

https://x.com/TheTranscript_/status/2029568736718442995

[gfp]

30 minutes ago, charlieruane said:

There's also this one: 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/03/05/berkshire-ceo-greg-abel-on-succeeding-warren-buffett-i-still-check-in-with-him-nearly-every-day.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar

 

Joe Kernen is a scourge.

 

Thanks for that - so the link I posted was just the first segment before the break.  Joe Kernan seems to think Warren's index put trade was a "hedge."

 

Pushing Abel for an investment decision on Blockchain technologies.  Good stuff Joe

[charlieruane]

I always wonder what Becky thinks of Joe's comments... 

[gfp]

4 minutes ago, charlieruane said:

I always wonder what Becky thinks of Joe's comments... 

 

I think we all have "special" friends.  Give 'em a pat on the head, they love it

[KPO]

45 minutes ago, Munger_Disciple said:

It's a bit odd that Berkshire had to announce that they restarted the share repurchases, given that this policy has been in place for several years now. And the 10-K that was just filed also reiterated it anyhow.

 

Agree with all of this as it seems unnecessarily promotional to go on CNBC and simultaneously announce a buyback that was already in place. Now we get to buy back shares at a higher price compared to simply buying and letting the news come out the next time we file a 10-Q.  
 

As for Greg’s purchases, I love the commitment, but why all at once and why message your future purchase dates?  
 

Just rationally manage the company and the equity value will take care of itself. 

[Munger_Disciple]

8 minutes ago, KPO said:

As for Greg’s purchases, I love the commitment, but why all at once and why message your future purchase dates?  
 

Just rationally manage the company and the equity value will take care of itself. 

 

I love the fact that he would use 100% of his salary after tax to buy Berkshire shares in the open market; but I agree it doesn't make any sense to pre-announce the exact purchase dates for the next 20 years that he hopes to be the CEO. Besides, he would want to buy when the shares are cheap, not regardless of the price two days after annual report comes out. 

 

Just buy in the open market when it makes sense. 

Edited March 5 by Munger_Disciple

[gfp]

He didn't make any promises he was going to buy stock right after the annual report lockup every year going forward.  Just that he was going to buy stock with the after tax salary BRK pays him every year.

[Munger_Disciple]

2 minutes ago, gfp said:

He didn't make any promises he was going to buy stock right after the annual report lockup every year going forward.  Just that he was going to buy stock with the after tax salary BRK pays him every year.

 

I need to re-watch or read the transcript. I understood that he would buy automatically two days after the AR comes out. 

Edited March 5 by Munger_Disciple

[gfp]

Just now, Munger_Disciple said:

 

I need to re-watch or read the transcript. I understood that he would buy automatically two days after the AR comes out. 

 

[charlieruane]

Well, we've never really had a scenario where Berkshire's CEO could be personally buying in shares with knowledge of undisclosed buybacks. If Abel hadn't disclosed the buybacks in real time, that's the scenario we'd be in today; one could argue that this would constitute an information edge that the CEO would have over other shareholders. I bet that's why they opted for disclosure here, though I agree it seems odd at first glance. 

Edited March 5 by charlieruane

[Munger_Disciple]

2 minutes ago, gfp said:

 

 

Reading the transcript, I still came away thinking he would just buy shares after the 48 hour cooling off period post AR release. 

[charlieruane]

And even if he does buy his stock two days post-AR every year... $15mm is a tiny chunk of the daily volume, who cares. 

Edited March 5 by charlieruane

[Munger_Disciple]

6 minutes ago, charlieruane said:

Well, we've never really had a scenario where Berkshire's CEO could be personally buying in shares with knowledge of undisclosed buybacks.

 

The company said they would buy back shares at any time they see value so I don't think this argument holds much water. Anyhow, in this case both Abel & the company were buying shares simultaneously yesterday prior to shareholders knowing about it today.

Edited March 5 by Munger_Disciple

[flesh]

Wow, so much nitpicking. So far so good IMo. 
 

I'd like to see more opportunistic buybacks, even it's is relatively small slugs on those weeks, typically lately or in 2025, when there's dips. 

 

Would anyone else like to see them deploy an extra 100b in market downturns like liberation day/April last year? I know it's not the buffett ethos, but why not have a dual ethos? I wouldn't care if they just bought a couple indexes on down turns and sold them off over time. If they are afraid of etf's, for public perception purposes, they could just buy a basket that mimics one. Anyways, isn't this what most of us do? They buying trimming on downturns/upturns? If we had that much cash to deploy I think we'd be doing something like this. 

 

Seems such a waste what was done in 2020, 2022/23, and april 25. Namely, the amount invested vs available cash to invest. 

 

 

Edited March 5 by flesh

[KPO]

38 minutes ago, charlieruane said:

And even if he does buy his stock two days post-AR every year... $15mm is a tiny chunk of the daily volume, who cares. 

My point wasn’t around it constituting a lot of volume, but more around having an expectation that you’d ideally have leadership wired to be profit maximizers irrespective of the materiality. I don’t think you maximize by picking a single trading day every year and buy the stock irrespective of the current quote.

[gfp]

7 minutes ago, KPO said:

My point wasn’t around it constituting a lot of volume, but more around having an expectation that you’d ideally have leadership wired to be profit maximizers irrespective of the materiality. I don’t think you maximize by picking a single trading day every year and buy the stock irrespective of the current quote.

 

As I mentioned before, I think it's clear from reading the transcript that he hasn't committed to buying every year on that day in the future.  They are two separate sentences.  In the past he has been extremely selective in the prices he paid for Berkshire stock, marking local lows with his purchases - a good sign.

 

Also it is important to remember that as far as insider buying goes for Greg, he is extremely limited for the time periods he is able to trade.  Two days after a public disclosure is one of those open windows - and even then he could happen to be aware of material nonpublic information because they are often evaluating potential deals or negotiating material settlements, etc..  (luckily at $1 trillion plus, the materiality threshold is probably up there!)

 

Greg is gonna do great.  For his family trust and for the big ole company he runs.  We're lucky to have him

Edited March 5 by gfp

[73 Reds]

4 minutes ago, gfp said:

 

As I mentioned before, I think it's clear from reading the transcript that he hasn't committed to buying every year on that day in the future.  They are two separate sentences.  In the past he has been extremely selective in the prices he paid for Berkshire stock, marking local lows with his purchases - a good sign.

 

Also it is important to remember that as far as insider buying goes for Greg, he is extremely limited for the time periods he is able to trade.  Two days after a public disclosure is one of those open windows - and even then he could happen to be aware of material nonpublic information because they are often evaluating potential deals or negotiating material settlements, etc..  (luckily at $1 trillion plus, the materiality threshold is probably up there!)

 

Greg is gonna do great.  For his family trust and for the big ole company he runs.  We're lucky to have him

To me this is all much ado about nothing.  He is committed to the company and putting his money where his mouth is.  Who cares what day he buys the stock?  And of course he always has more inside knowledge about the company than just about anyone else.  So what?  If he complies with applicable restrictions that's all that matters.