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50 Years of BRK Wall Print (+new letters book)

maxprogram

By maxprogram
in Berkshire Hathaway

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maxprogram Newbie

maxprogram

Posted
Posted

Hi all. This post is a bit promotional but I thought many on this board, especially those attending the meeting this week would find it of interest.

 

A few years ago I worked with Buffett's office to release the "Letters to Shareholders" compilation book, which a lot of people purchased and enjoyed. At the meeting this year there will be a limited-edition hardcover version updated with all 50 letters. Because only 1,000 copies will be printed (due to hardcover cost & lower demand), price will be more expensive but I still think reasonable for fans.

 

What I'm more excited about is the "50 Years of BRK" wall print (36x18") I created that visualizes Berkshire over 50 years. Data was obtained from many sources but primarily from a complete analysis I've done of the full BRK annual reports going back to 1965. The print will be $16 to shareholders at the meeting. I've showed to a handful of people and they all really seem to like it (see this short vid from Guy Spier after I gave Saurabh an early version: https://vimeo.com/123019888)

 

Here is the full blog post with more details:

http://www.explorist.io/blog/2015/4/28/berkshire-hathaway-50th-anniversary-print-book

 

There's a lot of other data I couldn't include on the poster b/c of size, but hopefully I'll be able to put it into some other form later on. Some might be used in a WSJ article with their coverage on the meeting later this week.

maxprogram Newbie

maxprogram

Posted
  • Author
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Great, I'll post here when both are available online later this month.

 

Yesterday I posted some interesting stats I learned from the research on Twitter for anyone interested:

 

 

My favorite:

Best return from public market investment: GEICO, added 1,570% to BV until purchase in '96, 7,119% including subsequent underwriting gains.

Jurgis Apprentice

Jurgis

Posted
Posted

Some great info (p*87  8) )

 

Can you elaborate on:

 

Berkshire’s 50-year annualized book value growth *without* gains from stock investments: 9.6% (vs 19.4% actual & 9.9% S&P) #brkstats

 

Is this from captive businesses? How did you account for BRK selling stocks and reusing this in internal businesses?

 

Thanks

dual_bid Newbie

dual_bid

Posted
Posted

 

What I'm more excited about is the "50 Years of BRK" wall print (36x18") I created that visualizes Berkshire over 50 years. Data was obtained from many sources but primarily from a complete analysis I've done of the full BRK annual reports going back to 1965. The print will be $16 to shareholders at the meeting. I've showed to a handful of people and they all really seem to like it (see this short vid from Guy Spier after I gave Saurabh an early version: https://vimeo.com/123019888)

 

Max, where exactly will you sell the poster at the meeting?

maxprogram Newbie

maxprogram

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Some great info (p*87  8) )

 

Can you elaborate on:

 

Berkshire’s 50-year annualized book value growth *without* gains from stock investments: 9.6% (vs 19.4% actual & 9.9% S&P) #brkstats

 

Is this from captive businesses? How did you account for BRK selling stocks and reusing this in internal businesses?

 

Thanks

 

This just comes from taking the investment portion out of each year's return and then annualizing the number. So not perfect of course but interesting nonetheless.

 

The 9.6% number assumes investments earn nothing. I also estimated the 50 year annualized return if investments were put in 10-year bonds. Final result is 13.5% annual BV growth over 50 years. Interesting to think about but unrealistic as it doesn't account for reinvestment, etc.

Guest longinvestor

Guest longinvestor

Posted
Posted

I picked one up. Awesome.

maxprogram Newbie

maxprogram

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I'll be making the poster & the remaining copies of the book available for purchase online in the next couple weeks. When it's ready I'll let everyone here know.

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest notorious546

Guest notorious546

Posted
Posted

i would like one if there are any left!

Liberty Contributor

Liberty

Posted
Posted

I'll be making the poster & the remaining copies of the book available for purchase online in the next couple weeks. When it's ready I'll let everyone here know.

 

Thanks!

maxprogram Newbie

maxprogram

Posted
  • Author
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Hey everyone, the poster and hardcover shareholders book are now available for purchase on Amazon.

 

Book: http://www.amazon.com/Berkshire-Hathaway-Letters-Shareholders-Buffett/dp/069244842X/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A3ODHOECJIJSTW

Wall print: http://www.amazon.com/Years-Berkshire-Hathaway-Wall-Print/dp/0692448438/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A3ODHOECJIJSTW

 

For the book, there are ~100 copies at the warehouse now but many more are on the way, so if stock runs out just check back in a few days.

 

Also, below is a chart from a post I just published. It shows the cumulative contribution to book value of selected investments over 50 years. (More details are in the post.)

 

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/552198cde4b0ae29d9efc86b/t/5567a173e4b0dc7d532585dc/1432854903217/BRK-individual-investments?format=1000w

Guest notorious546

Guest notorious546

Posted
Posted

how do i buy one if i'm in canada? doesn't look like they ship to canada or are available on the amazon.ca website.

Liberty Contributor

Liberty

Posted
Posted

how do i buy one if i'm in canada? doesn't look like they ship to canada or are available on the amazon.ca website.

 

I have the same question.

 

Also, very interesting new chart. Great way to see how most of the returns from most investments seem to happen within 5-8 years.

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