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Buffett/Berkshire - general news


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I'm sure everyone already has seen it, but just incase someone missed it over the weekend.

 

 

 

Yahoo: Berkshire Hathaway speeds up stock buybacks

 

In its proxy filing on Friday, Berkshire said it repurchased the equivalent of 3,808 Class A shares this year through March 6, spending approximately $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion depending on the dates of the buybacks.

Nearly three-quarters of the repurchases took place after Feb. 12.

Berkshire repurchased $2.2 billion of its own stock in last year's fourth quarter, and $9.2 billion in all of 2023.

Its peak year for buybacks was 2021, when they totaled $27 billion.

 

Through Friday, Berkshire's share price was up 14% this year, about twice the gain for the Standard & Poor's 500.

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/berkshire-hathaway-speeds-stock-buybacks-185257424.html

 

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10 hours ago, charlieruane said:

Trump approached Berkshire Hathaway in hopes of getting an appellate bond: 

Screen Shot 2024-03-18 at 3.15.14 PM.png

Mr. Trump has until March 25 to post an additional bond for $456M.  The dollar amount is approaching a record size.  For example in 2009, Zurich wrote a surety bond for Panama Canal for $450M - believed to be one of the largest deals ever done in surety. 

 

I would like to highlight Chubb previously issued a $91.6M bond with brokerage account as collateral allowing Mr. Trump to appeal in this case.  When the news broke of Chubb issuing the $91.6M bond, there was a ton of blow back to Chubb.  CEO Evan Greenberg (son of Hank Greenberg - formerly of AIG now Starr) wrote a letter addressing the $91.6M bond (letter attached).  I really liked reading the letter from Mr. Evan Greenberg - showed some leadership and belief in our system of government.  One could argue the other side saying Greenberg/Chubb is favoring Mr. Trump and bring in all the politics however I want to believe Mr. Greenberg's words in his letter "we support the rule of law and our role in it".  I just liked the letter a lot especially in this political climate where we need leadership.  

 

As a shareholder, I trust Berkshire made a sound decision.  With a juicy premium and liquid collateral/margin of safety could be a good risk.  However the political nature probably just makes it a too hard pile issue so I get it.  Berkshire could have easily declined on same basis of Chubb - lack of collateral or size.  As Mr. Buffet says, cash/liquidity is like oxygen.  

 

 

chubb-letter-on-trump-bond-3132024.pdf

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3 hours ago, longterminvestor said:

As a shareholder, I trust Berkshire made a sound decision.  With a juicy premium and liquid collateral/margin of safety could be a good risk.  However the political nature probably just makes it a too hard pile issue so I get it.  Berkshire could have easily declined on same basis of Chubb - lack of collateral or size.  As Mr. Buffet says, cash/liquidity is like oxygen.  

 

 

chubb-letter-on-trump-bond-3132024.pdf 126.98 kB · 6 downloads

Thanks for the post.  I agree, not sure there is a number that could offset the political optics.  The irony is obviously Berkshire could do it in a heartbeat, so it is a potential snub anyway.  Good thing there was 30 insurers who came to the same conclusion.  Safety in numbers 😉

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