Buffett/Berkshire - general news

[gfp]

Correct, they may issue a press release about the expiration of the go-shop tomorrow or Monday.  A superior offer can come in any time before the shareholder vote.  The deal actually closes towards the end of the year, say October - December, when regulators say everything is OK to proceed.

[thepupil]

1 hour ago, gfp said:

Correct, they may issue a press release about the expiration of the go-shop tomorrow or Monday.  A superior offer can come in any time before the shareholder vote.  The deal actually closes towards the end of the year, say October - December, when regulators say everything is OK to proceed.

Yea we’ll find out if there’s folks who have requested / been granted confidential information for sake of diligence / offer in the next few days.

 

got a little lotto ticket riding in this but expect it to be a tax writeoff

[longterminvestor]

Charlie Rose interviews Mr. Buffett.  came out today.  

 

https://charlierose.com/videos/31221

[dcollon]

Thanks very much for posting 

[LearningMachine]

Thanks indeed @longterminvestor for posting.

 

I found the following really interesting:

• What candidate business will be worth 10-20 years from now: Buffett said that when deciding on whether to invest in a company, he looks for "what is the company going to be worth 10 or 20 years from now".  Did he always look that far out or did he used to look only about 5-10 years out?
• $5 Billion size investments making only a 1% impact: He said that even now he finds some "whales", but that even if he finds a $5B investment that he thinks is a "whale", it will only be about 1% of the portfolio. 

 

Any recent ~$5B size investments he might be referring to?  

 

Thoughts?

[RadMan24]

3 hours ago, LearningMachine said:

Thanks indeed @longterminvestor for posting.

 

I found the following really interesting:

• What candidate business will be worth 10-20 years from now: Buffett said that when deciding on whether to invest in a company, he looks for "what is the company going to be worth 10 or 20 years from now".  Did he always look that far out or did he used to look only about 5-10 years out?
• $5 Billion size investments making only a 1% impact: He said that even now he finds some "whales", but that even if he finds a $5B investment that he thinks is a "whale", it will only be about 1% of the portfolio. 

 

Any recent ~$5B size investments he might be referring to?  

 

Thoughts?

HP! lol 

[alwaysinvert]

He mentioned in passing that "he knows a guy" that produces as many smartphones as Apple. AFAIK, the only one that really fits that description is Jay Y Lee. I didn't know that they were personally familiar with each other. BRK had a small investment in Samsung a few years back, which he sold for a quick double or so. Maybe he's back in again. BRK would be a pretty logical taker of block trades associated with sales of Samsung stock in order to meet inheritance tax obligations. 

 

Samsung owner family is 3 trillion won short in inheritance tax payment (koreatimes.co.kr)

[ValueMaven]

Charlie Rose is not as good of an interviewer anymore.  That said, Warren is as sharp as ever.  Thank you for posting this!! 

Edited April 15, 2022 by ValueMaven

[Guest]

19 hours ago, longterminvestor said:

Charlie Rose interviews Mr. Buffett.  came out today.  

 

https://charlierose.com/videos/31221

 

Thanks for posting. I look forward to hearing about Buffett's "values" given the fact that he talks a big game but hangs out with creeps like Rose and Gates.

[Gamecock-YT]

1 hour ago, ValueMaven said:

Charlie Rose is not as good of an interviewer anymore.  That said, Warren is as sharp as ever.  Thank you for posting this!! 

 

guess he doesn't have his assistants anymore to help him....

[Xerxes]

Is this a joke ?

I thought Charlie Rose lost his job as part of the #metoo movement 

[gfp]

25 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

Is this a joke ?

I thought Charlie Rose lost his job as part of the #metoo movement 

 

This was his first interview released since his exile - something like 4 years.  He apparently retained the rights to his name and website so he doesn't need an employer to attempt his redemption.  Warren and Susan Buffett had been friends with Charlie Rose for a very long time (and he did Susan's only televised interview), so it's no surprise that Warren gave him the benefit of the doubt.  That said, it does sound like he was an inappropriate colleague at work for decades.  Multiple, credible, ass grabs isn't in the category of 'creepy old man makes off-color jokes all the time.'

[Xerxes]

7 minutes ago, gfp said:

That said, it does sound like he was an inappropriate colleague at work for decades. 

In the Lights Out book about GE, it was said that Jack Welch had dismissed it as joie de vivre when confronted by his folks about questionable behaviour of some GE higher ups at work 

[Monsieur_dee]

Thanks for posting.. I was surprised to hear that Warren says his typical day is waking up and seeing what prices do. 

He's still looking very good. 

 

 

[Poor Charlie]

9 hours ago, alwaysinvert said:

He mentioned in passing that "he knows a guy" that produces as many smartphones as Apple.

My guess: Duan Yongping. He won the 2006 GLIDE lunch auction, and they've probably kept in touch since (given Duan's knowledge on investing, china, electronics, apple, etc.). 

[gfp]

"Alleghany did not receive any alternative acquisition proposals."

 

https://www.alleghany.com/investor-relations/press-releases/press-release-details/2022/Alleghany-Corporation-Announces-End-of-Go-Shop-Period/default.aspx

 

Hooray for Warren, he got one.

[boilermaker75]

38 minutes ago, gfp said:

"Alleghany did not receive any alternative acquisition proposals."

 

https://www.alleghany.com/investor-relations/press-releases/press-release-details/2022/Alleghany-Corporation-Announces-End-of-Go-Shop-Period/default.aspx

 

Hooray for Warren, he got one.

 

Thanks @gfp, that is great news!

[Guest]

During the Buffett interview, he mentions that he's never gone 80% equities. Is that the case in 1969 too?

[gfp]

Berkshire's proxy statement lists an updated share count for March 2, 2022:

 

614,692 A-shares and

1,287,633,719 b-shares

 

That comes out to a b-share equivalent share count of: 2,209,671,719

 

2/14/2022 share count was a b-share equivalent of 2,214,212,161

 

So in the approximately two weeks there, it looks like Berkshire continued share repurchases and spent something like $1.4 Billion.

 

I had in my notes that 12/31/2021 -> 2/14/2022 was something around $555 million worth (estimated dollar value).

 

So:

 

12/31/2021 -> 3/2/2022, repurchases were about $2 Billion worth, depending on what average price you use.

 

FWIW, current market cap is approximately $741 Billion.

 

https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/meet01/2022proxy.pdf

 

There is some other new stuff in there.  Susan Decker was elected "lead independent director" (this had been Bill Gates a few years ago) and the language about Howie becoming non-executive chairman after Warren is no longer on the scene is replaced by "a member of the Buffett family."  So it could be Susie.

 

Other new information is how much Berkshire stock the new board members own.  Susie has quite a few non-foundation shares, likely inherited from her Mother or grandparents, Christopher Davis has quite a few A shares personally, and Wally Weitz has a ton of stock although he put most of it in his foundation.  Ajit also has more than $200m worth of Berkshire shares when you include shares in his foundations.  Impressive share ownership by the directors.

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by gfp

[ValueMaven]

Great stuff.  Thank you @gfp

[nwoodman]

1 hour ago, ValueMaven said:

Great stuff.  Thank you @gfp

+1, greatly appreciated @gfp

[Munger_Disciple]

USA Today article on Greg Abel: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/buffett-successor-greg-abel-regular-205408257.html

[sleepydragon]

1 hour ago, Munger_Disciple said:

USA Today article on Greg Abel: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/buffett-successor-greg-abel-regular-205408257.html

There’s one commonality between my 3-year old daughter, also my second-in-line,  and Buffett’s second-in-line. They both want a house with elevator.

 

[Ulti]

https://mebfaber.com/2022/04/27/e410-chris-bloomstran/

excellent interview with a good section on energy

[gfp]

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220430005003/en/Berkshire-Hathaway-Inc.-First-Quarter-2022-Earnings-Release

 

and the 10Q:

 

https://berkshirehathaway.com/qtrly/1stqtr22.pdf

 

(approx. $3.2 Billion repurchase in Q1, essentially no repurchase from quarter end -> 4/20)

 

At today's ~323/share market price and BVPS of $230.3/sh, we are right at 1.4x quarter end BVPS currently.

 

 

Cash is way down, Berkshire purchased over $51 Billion of equity securities (gross - also sold $9.7B worth of equity securities) in the quarter and started adding to their fixed income holdings, which had shrunk to $16 billion at year-end and are now at ~$21B.

Edited April 30, 2022 by gfp