2024 Q4 and Annual Report

[Eldad]

Some great lines:

“Mistakes fade away; winners can bloom forever.”

 

”…but small fractions of these gems can be purchased Monday through Friday on Wall St. and, very occasionally, sell at bargain prices”

 

”From a base of 4 MM people - and despite a brutal internal war early on, pitting one American against another - America changed the world in the blink of a Celestial eye.”

 

All have been said many times before but the turn of phrase made me smile and the stock bargain one got me pumped. 

[adventurer]

7 hours ago, Libs said:

 

Ha, that was me. Surprised any one remembered! It was March 9, 2009 as I recall. The bottom. Buffett had been on CNBC that morning, at 4 AM PST,  coming as close to endorsing a stock as I'd ever heard. It was WFC. He said, "Wells is interesting at 3X (or whatever it was) pre-provision income. " Words to that effect. I'd been studying the stock and that was all I needed to hear. Cleared it with the wife and went all-in at $10. Sold it at $50 a few years later.

 

I'd say Buffett is 80% responsible for my net worth, for reasons Parsad cited. Wabuffo is probably 10%, LOL.

 

 

Interesting stories. How old are the users on this board? Has there been a survey in the recent past? You all had very interesting opportunities in your life it seems. I am 31, so not that many (at least) yet  Or I was too stupid to see. 

Edited Monday at 09:23 AM by adventurer

[gfp]

4 hours ago, adventurer said:

 

Interesting stories. How old are the users on this board? Has there been a survey in the recent past? You all had very interesting opportunities in your life it seems. I am 31, so not that many (at least) yet  Or I was too stupid to see. 

 

There have been several surveys - I think this was the most recent one ->

 

 

[gfp]

BNSF 10K is here

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0000934612/000093461225000003/bni-20241231.htm

 

BHE 10K is here

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001081316/000108131625000004/bhe-20241231.htm

[gfp]

Apple not wanting to be left out of the new trend of bragging on how much you remit in cash taxes to the US treasury -

 

 

"Apple remains one of the largest U.S. taxpayers, having paid more than $75 billion in U.S. taxes over the past five years, including $19 billion in 2024 alone."

 

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/02/apple-will-spend-more-than-500-billion-usd-in-the-us-over-the-next-four-years/

 

Surely that is the #2 position - who's next?

[DooDiligence]

That's some virtue signaling I can get behind.

[Hektor]

Not sure what benefit(s) this signaling will reap. The two men at the top seems to pay zilch. 

[gfp]

2 minutes ago, Hektor said:

Not sure what benefit(s) this signaling will reap. The two men at the top seems to pay zilch. 

 

Hard to imagine that Tim Cook pays "zilch"

 

[DooDiligence]

10 minutes ago, Hektor said:

Not sure what benefit(s) this signaling will reap. The two men at the top seems to pay zilch. 

 

It's a deflection.

Cook: Pleeeeease don't look at my finances edit: tax me.

 

Caption this:

 

Edited Monday at 02:33 PM by DooDiligence

[Hektor]

3 minutes ago, gfp said:

Hard to imagine that Tim Cook pays "zilch"

Was referring to the current leader and his deputy

[DooDiligence]

4 minutes ago, Hektor said:

Was referring to the current leader and his deputy

 

Yep. Him / them too (especially). Meanwhile, the rest of us 

Edited Monday at 02:35 PM by DooDiligence

[cubsfan]

5 minutes ago, Hektor said:

Was referring to the current leader and his deputy

 

Are they breaking tax law in the same way as Pelosi, Bernie and the rest of the politicians?

[DooDiligence]

I am sooo sorry for teeing this up for politics.

and now back to Berkshire.

[gfp]

A special thanks to the covered call boys for teeing up this morning's squeeze 

[KPO]

On 2/22/2025 at 5:56 PM, vakilkp said:

The below is pretty powerful and something (with revisions) to consider telling the children whom we leave an inheritance. 

 

"So thank you, Uncle Sam. Someday your nieces and nephews at Berkshire hope to send
you even larger payments than we did in 2024. Spend it wisely. Take care of the many who, for
no fault of their own, get the short straws in life. They deserve better. And never forget that we
need you to maintain a stable currency and that result requires both wisdom and vigilance on
your part."

This is definitely a message to the Treasury, the Fed, and any other leaders that can effect the country’s balance sheet and status of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. I suspect history will remember this section more than any others from this otherwise uneventful letter. I hope it’s not his last, but if it is, he’s been a phenomenal teacher to countless people around the world.

[yesman182]

38 minutes ago, gfp said:

A special thanks to the covered call boys for teeing up this morning's squeeze 

Are you selling into it? I sold a little. 

[Parsad]

13 hours ago, adventurer said:

 

Interesting stories. How old are the users on this board? Has there been a survey in the recent past? You all had very interesting opportunities in your life it seems. I am 31, so not that many (at least) yet  Or I was too stupid to see. 

 

Don't worry...you'll get plenty of opportunities in the next 20 years.  The question will be if you have the psychological makeup and balls to take advantage of those opportunities and bet heavy during the times when the equation is skewed heavily in your favor?  Some of that is innate, some of that can be taught...hopefully the stuff that can be taught is available to you here and from the knowledge of other posters.  Cheers!

[Eldad]

15 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

Don't worry...you'll get plenty of opportunities in the next 20 years.  The question will be if you have the psychological makeup and balls to take advantage of those opportunities and bet heavy during the times when the equation is skewed heavily in your favor?  Some of that is innate, some of that can be taught...hopefully the stuff that can be taught is available to you here and from the knowledge of other posters.  Cheers!

Agree. When it happens don’t watch CNBC, Bloomberg, etc. Even on this site, stay out of General Discussion. Get super myopic about the stocks on your buy list and nothing else. Or just buy a bunch of BRK. 

[Munger_Disciple]

8 hours ago, gfp said:

A special thanks to the covered call boys for teeing up this morning's squeeze 

 

LOL 

[John Hjorth]

8 hours ago, gfp said:

A special thanks to the covered call boys for teeing up this morning's squeeze 

 

2 minutes ago, Munger_Disciple said:

 

LOL 

 

Yeah, funny!  Most of the days, the stock doesn't do squat, flat for days, months, some times, even years! -And then suddenly! ...

[Munger_Disciple]

Barron's: https://www.barrons.com/articles/berkshire-hathaway-buffett-stock-price-0b50b345?siteid=yhoof2

[villainx]

Letter seems less dense than years/decades past, but really enjoyed it.  

 

Sounds like the Japanese trading companies enjoy Berkshire as a shareholder.  

 

 

[DooDiligence]

Anybody know if one or more of the Japanese trading companies own or are buying Nintendo?

[gfp]

14 minutes ago, DooDiligence said:

Anybody know if one or more of the Japanese trading companies own or are buying Nintendo?

 

No I don't think so

 

(I believe Itochu was once a distributor for Nintendo in certain European countries)

Edited Tuesday at 03:12 AM by gfp

[DooDiligence]

30 minutes ago, gfp said:

 

No I don't think so

 

(I believe Itochu was once a distributor for Nintendo in certain European countries)

 

I think you're right. Found this and none are mentioned.

 

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/information/index.html