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Economy Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway hits $1tn valuation on Wall Street

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Vast conglomerate becomes the first non-tech company to hit the major stock market milestone

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The market value of Berkshire Hathaway surpassed $1tn on Wednesday, reflecting investor confidence in the conglomerate that Warren Buffett built over nearly six decades into what many consider a proxy for the American economy.

Berkshire joined six other companies, mainly from the technology sector, above $1trn: Apple, Nvidia , Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon.com and Facebook parent Meta Platforms.

Berkshire’s dozens of insurance, energy, manufacturing, retail and service businesses generated $22.8bn of profit in the year’s first half, up 26% from a year earlier.

The businesses include Geico car insurance, BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Brooks running shoes, Dairy Queen ice cream, Ginsu knives and the World Book encyclopedia, among others.

Berkshire also has a huge stock portfolio led by Apple, though it has sold more than half its Apple shares this year.

Stock sales are a major reason Berkshire’s holdings of cash and equivalents soared to $276.9bn as of 30 June, mostly in US Treasury bills.

Buffett, who turns 94 on 30 August, has run Berkshire since 1965.
buffet-catering.jpg

When Berkshire’s value hit $1trn, its shares had gained more than 5,600,000% since the year Buffett took over.

That is about 20% annually, nearly double the annualized gain in the S&P 500 including dividends.

Buffett still owns more than 14% of the Omaha, Nebraska-based company despite having donated more than half his shares to charity since 2006.

As of Tuesday, Buffett’s fortune was about $144.9bn, making him the world’s sixth-richest person, Forbes magazine said.

Through Tuesday, Berkshire shares had risen 27% this year, compared with the S&P 500’s 18% gain.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/28/berkshire-hathaway-valuation-warren-buffett
 
Interesting fact:

Buffett had 474, 998 shares of BRK.A before he started donating them. He's given well more than half away at this point. If he still had all his shares, they would be worth $331.5 billion today, making him the wealthiest man in the world by about $100 billion (at least ostensibly, who knows how much Putin is really worth).
 
Interesting fact:

Buffett had 474, 998 shares of BRK.A before he started donating them. He's given well more than half away at this point. If he still had all his shares, they would be worth $331.5 billion today, making him the wealthiest man in the world by about $100 billion (at least ostensibly, who knows how much Putin is really worth).

Bet he kicks himself every day for that one
 

They wait in the rain to see Warren Buffett. Will they still flock to Omaha when he’s gone?​


Callum Jones in Omaha, Nebraska

Berkshire Hathaway’s billionaire CEO, 93, steels shareholders for new era at the annual meeting known as ‘Woodstock for Capitalists’

1695874875497

As dawn broke on Saturday, thousands had gathered outside Omaha’s CHI Health Center Arena. Some arrived before 3.30am, standing for hours in the drizzle.

This is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”, said Larry Blivas, 70, near the front of the line. The realtor traveled from Los Angeles to see “an icon”, he explained.


“He’s a legend,” added Andrew Lee, 50, from New York.

The masses had not descended to catch a weathered rock star’s farewell tour, but the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate, chaired by a nonagenarian billionaire: Warren Buffett, 93, was about to take the stage. Many of his loyal fans wonder how many more times he will appear, and what the future holds for Berkshire Hathaway – and Omaha.

They call it “Woodstock for Capitalists”. For decades, tens of thousands of moneyed investors have flocked from across the world to the Nebraskan city for a jamboree hosted by corporate America’s answer to Lennon and McCartney.
slide4.png

Buffett and Charlie Munger – who died last year, aged 99 – amassed a legion of followers by transforming Berkshire Hathaway from a struggling textiles manufacturer into a sprawling global conglomerate – and generating handsome returns for shareholders along the way.

His empire, which includes a manufactured-housing business accused of exploitation, and gigantic investments in fossil fuels, is not without controversy. But to his investors, Buffett and Mungers have long been heroes.

“They’ve made me a lot of money over the years,” said Blivas. Buffett, in his view, is “the greatest of all time” – and “might not be around too much longer”. When the time comes for a new generation to take charge, Blivas does not plan to turn up at 4am, as he did this weekend.

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Warren Buffett in a taped video message to shareholders in Omaha, Nebraska, on 1 May 2010. Photograph: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Munger’s death in November marked the end of an era, and after more than half a century, Berkshire is steeling disciples for the next chapter. Addressing the company’s latest annual meeting this weekend, he declared that its structure as a company, designed by Munger, “lived beyond his lifetime, and will live far beyond mine”.


Shareholders “don’t have too long to wait” before his chosen successors step up, Buffett remarked at one point during the meeting. “Generally, I feel fine,” he added hastily, “but I know a little bit about actuarial tables,” conceding he “shouldn’t be taking on any four-year employment contracts”.

Greg Abel, his chosen successor, was at his side on Saturday. “One way or another, there are more than 24 hours in his day,” Buffett told investors. “This place, if anything happened to me, it would be working extremely well the next day.”

The prospect of Berkshire without Buffett tomorrow has, nevertheless, layered an air of apprehension across Omaha today.

The firm’s shareholders diligently travel hundreds, if not, thousands, of miles to hear from the so-called sage of Omaha. Some 93% of the city’s hotel rooms are said to be booked out before each meeting, setting up one of the busiest weekends of the year for its businesses.

boardmeeting__thumb.jpg.jpg

Whether Berkshire’s new guard will have the same star power, and pull such vast crowds – without the card-carrying capitalist icons who built it – is a worry for locals.

“The company is all about Buffett,” said Colin Duggan, who owns and runs Kitchen Table, a downtown cafe, with his wife, Jessica. “If Buffett’s not around? Yeah, we’re nervous. We’re a little nervous about it, for sure.”

Buffett relocated Berkshire from New England to his hometown back in 1970, a few years after taking control. The company, and its chief executive, have stayed put ever since – and become omnipresent throughout the city.

Over the years, residents have spotted the tycoon (currently the world’s ninth-richest person, according to Bloomberg, with a personal fortune of $132bn) playing ping-pong with Bill Gates, eating ice cream with Paul McCartney and having dinner with LeBron James – unlikely scenes in a city that sits not on the “elitist” coasts, but at the heart of America’s Great Plains region.

Despite his extraordinary wealth, Buffett still famously lives in the five-bedroom house he bought for $31,500 in 1958. “It’s not a flashy neighborhood, by any means. It’s not a flashy house,” laughed Colin Duggan, 45, who grew up in the area. “It was really, really strange to see all these tourists, with cameras, taking pictures.”

The mix of mega-wealth and modesty has proven magnetic each spring. Back in 2022, shortly after opening Godega Market, a corner store and cafe, owners David Kerr, 35, and his partner, Nate Flick, 34, were still working the counter when they heard the impact of Berkshire’s annual meeting.

Standing by the coffee machine, “every third or fourth” accent in the line prompted Kerr, 34, to ask where customers were from. The answers varied from Australia to Brazil. “It was very refreshing,” he said.

A short walk away, Kitchen Table was also humming this weekend. Jessica Duggan, 44, estimated that Sunday – the day after Berkshire shareholders fill up Omaha’s 18,975-seat CHI arena – was typically the cafe’s biggest of the year. The whole weekend is “really huge for us,” added Colin.

“You can talk with probably any business, any restaurant, any hotel during this period,” said Deborah Ward, executive director of Visit Omaha, its tourism agency. “Berkshire Hathaway makes an impact every year.”
long-meeting-but-everyone-exhausting.jpg

For all that the firm has given Omaha, Buffett claims, it has also been rewarded. Both its architects were born there, and the executives tapped to lead it forward – Abel, 61, who already oversees Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, and Ajit Jain, its vice chairman of insurance operations, 72 – previously lived in the city.

“So what is going on? Is it Omaha’s water? Is it Omaha’s air?” Buffett wondered in his annual letter. “Is it some strange planetary phenomenon akin to that which has produced Jamaica’s sprinters, Kenya’s marathon runners, or Russia’s chess experts?”

“Keep an open mind. Come to Omaha in May, inhale the air, drink the water,” he wrote, urging investors to introduce themselves to his sister, Bertie, “and her good-looking daughters”.

Whether to hear from Buffett or meet Bertie’s daughters, people came.

Ramya and Shiva Amrit flew from Bellevue, Washington. Both have followed Berkshire since high school. While Ramya agrees that it’s “not going to be the same” without Buffett, he and his wife plan to keep coming. Abel is “a close second”, he said, “so I’ll still be here.”
3993.jpg

Many shareholders arrive a day early for a discount shopping day. “This is really, really, really busy,” said Priscilla Cardenas, 59, who first bought shares 15 years ago, and turned up hours before doors opened to find bargains at Fruit of the Loom, Berkshire’s clothing retailer.

“People love to see Warren,”
said Nancy, 62, who traveled from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

For all that the firm has given Omaha, Buffett claims, it has also been rewarded. Both its architects were born there, and the executives tapped to lead it forward – Abel, 61, who already oversees Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, and Ajit Jain, its vice chairman of insurance operations, 72 – previously lived in the city.

“So what is going on? Is it Omaha’s water? Is it Omaha’s air?” Buffett wondered in his annual letter. “Is it some strange planetary phenomenon akin to that which has produced Jamaica’s sprinters, Kenya’s marathon runners, or Russia’s chess experts?”

“Keep an open mind. Come to Omaha in May, inhale the air, drink the water,” he wrote, urging investors to introduce themselves to his sister, Bertie, “and her good-looking daughters”.

Whether to hear from Buffett or meet Bertie’s daughters, people came.


Ramya and Shiva Amrit flew from Bellevue, Washington. Both have followed Berkshire since high school. While Ramya agrees that it’s “not going to be the same” without Buffett, he and his wife plan to keep coming. Abel is “a close second”, he said, “so I’ll still be here.”

Many shareholders arrive a day early for a discount shopping day. “This is really, really, really busy,” said Priscilla Cardenas, 59, who first bought shares 15 years ago, and turned up hours before doors opened to find bargains at Fruit of the Loom, Berkshire’s clothing retailer.

“People love to see Warren,” said Nancy, 62, who traveled from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“Keeping the dream alive – the financial dream,” added her friend Lisa, 60. “Money’s not taboo for him. Being extra wealthy is not taboo.”

Michael Graham, 22, drove 14 hours from Youngstown, Ohio, with his dad, also Michael, 59. Buffett “just has that way about him”, he said. “Whenever he talks, you just want to listen.”

The legacy of Omaha’s so-called oracle will endure, according to Graham. “I feel like the base he’s built, it’s hard to mess it up,” he said. But will investors still turn up in droves once Abel, Buffett’s publicity-shy heir apparent, is running the show?

“That’s a good question.”

 
“Omaha and Berkshire Hathaway have this thing. It almost defies explanation,” said Ward, of Visit Omaha, who is “hopefully confident” the firm will stay in her city for years to come.

Kerr, at Godega Market, also expressed hope that “whenever Warren Buffet passes the CEO baton” that Berkshire “will always consider” Omaha its home – and that its shareholders keep coming “year after year”.

“It is off the beaten path, I think that’s fair to say,” he said. “It’s not your typical tourist town. But that’s also refreshing. I’m sure there’s many people from different countries that wouldn’t just throw a dart and go to Omaha, Nebraska, but maybe are pleasantly surprised when they arrive.”
the-office-lego-set.jpg

Thanking investors for coming, Buffett alluded once more to the question on so many of his shareholders’ minds. “I not only hope you come next year, but I hope I come next year,” he chuckled. His disciples took to their feet and applauded. “I’ll see you next year,” he said.

Under new management, Berkshire might continue to thrive. Profits within its insurance, railroad and peanut-brittle businesses could surge; its $336bn investment portfolio, with stakes in companies from Apple to Chevron, might swell; its stock may well scale fresh heights.

But this firm was built around a fanbase: not just shareholders, but a unique, dedicated community of followers, who travel far and wide to catch the big show, buy the merch, and jostle to get close to the stage.

While a fervent and vocal generation has emerged in recent years, it materialized online. Young retail investors, to Buffett’s dismay, mobilized on social media to coalesce around a string of “meme stocks” like GameStop and AMC. Day-trading the hottest new fad on Robinhood could not be much further from his ardent belief in the power of long-term investment.

The challenge facing Buffett’s successors will not just be to shore up profits, but to preserve the passion of Berkshire’s true believers: those still prepared to put their faith in a conglomerate, rather than Reddit tips.

In years to come, on the morning of the firm’s annual meeting, those in charge could do worse than wander Omaha’s streets, and count how many investors remain willing to line up before sunrise for the best seats in the house.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/04/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-omaha
 
Are the World Book encyclopedias even still actually around? That was actually one of Berkshire's largest businesses at one point, but it collapsed around 1995, because of the internet. Can't even see any info in their financial reports on it for decades now.

He took a lot of pride in that. I had a set from 1989 I think. Went through it a lot as kid. Funny how much things have changed. Pluto's not even a planet anymore! :eek:
 
i once read a book by Bogle the vanguard guy and it blew me away how simple he made everything sound. buffet is the same. i am used to 48 year old turbo-cokeheads telling me about the derivation variables in some asian sector that is the hottest thing right now. we will miss these old guys when they're gone and all there will be left is AI autonomous agents as brokers.
 
Bet he kicks himself every day for that one

I doubt he even thinks about it let alone regrets it. I'm sure he'd rather be remembered as one of the greatest philanthropists of our times rather than one of the richest people.
 

They wait in the rain to see Warren Buffett. Will they still flock to Omaha when he’s gone?​


Callum Jones in Omaha, Nebraska

Berkshire Hathaway’s billionaire CEO, 93, steels shareholders for new era at the annual meeting known as ‘Woodstock for Capitalists’

1695874875497

As dawn broke on Saturday, thousands had gathered outside Omaha’s CHI Health Center Arena. Some arrived before 3.30am, standing for hours in the drizzle.

This is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”, said Larry Blivas, 70, near the front of the line. The realtor traveled from Los Angeles to see “an icon”, he explained.


“He’s a legend,” added Andrew Lee, 50, from New York.

The masses had not descended to catch a weathered rock star’s farewell tour, but the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate, chaired by a nonagenarian billionaire: Warren Buffett, 93, was about to take the stage. Many of his loyal fans wonder how many more times he will appear, and what the future holds for Berkshire Hathaway – and Omaha.

They call it “Woodstock for Capitalists”. For decades, tens of thousands of moneyed investors have flocked from across the world to the Nebraskan city for a jamboree hosted by corporate America’s answer to Lennon and McCartney.
slide4.png

Buffett and Charlie Munger – who died last year, aged 99 – amassed a legion of followers by transforming Berkshire Hathaway from a struggling textiles manufacturer into a sprawling global conglomerate – and generating handsome returns for shareholders along the way.

His empire, which includes a manufactured-housing business accused of exploitation, and gigantic investments in fossil fuels, is not without controversy. But to his investors, Buffett and Mungers have long been heroes.

“They’ve made me a lot of money over the years,” said Blivas. Buffett, in his view, is “the greatest of all time” – and “might not be around too much longer”. When the time comes for a new generation to take charge, Blivas does not plan to turn up at 4am, as he did this weekend.

3000.jpg

Warren Buffett in a taped video message to shareholders in Omaha, Nebraska, on 1 May 2010. Photograph: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Munger’s death in November marked the end of an era, and after more than half a century, Berkshire is steeling disciples for the next chapter. Addressing the company’s latest annual meeting this weekend, he declared that its structure as a company, designed by Munger, “lived beyond his lifetime, and will live far beyond mine”.


Shareholders “don’t have too long to wait” before his chosen successors step up, Buffett remarked at one point during the meeting. “Generally, I feel fine,” he added hastily, “but I know a little bit about actuarial tables,” conceding he “shouldn’t be taking on any four-year employment contracts”.

Greg Abel, his chosen successor, was at his side on Saturday. “One way or another, there are more than 24 hours in his day,” Buffett told investors. “This place, if anything happened to me, it would be working extremely well the next day.”

The prospect of Berkshire without Buffett tomorrow has, nevertheless, layered an air of apprehension across Omaha today.

The firm’s shareholders diligently travel hundreds, if not, thousands, of miles to hear from the so-called sage of Omaha. Some 93% of the city’s hotel rooms are said to be booked out before each meeting, setting up one of the busiest weekends of the year for its businesses.

boardmeeting__thumb.jpg.jpg

Whether Berkshire’s new guard will have the same star power, and pull such vast crowds – without the card-carrying capitalist icons who built it – is a worry for locals.

“The company is all about Buffett,” said Colin Duggan, who owns and runs Kitchen Table, a downtown cafe, with his wife, Jessica. “If Buffett’s not around? Yeah, we’re nervous. We’re a little nervous about it, for sure.”

Buffett relocated Berkshire from New England to his hometown back in 1970, a few years after taking control. The company, and its chief executive, have stayed put ever since – and become omnipresent throughout the city.

Over the years, residents have spotted the tycoon (currently the world’s ninth-richest person, according to Bloomberg, with a personal fortune of $132bn) playing ping-pong with Bill Gates, eating ice cream with Paul McCartney and having dinner with LeBron James – unlikely scenes in a city that sits not on the “elitist” coasts, but at the heart of America’s Great Plains region.

Despite his extraordinary wealth, Buffett still famously lives in the five-bedroom house he bought for $31,500 in 1958. “It’s not a flashy neighborhood, by any means. It’s not a flashy house,” laughed Colin Duggan, 45, who grew up in the area. “It was really, really strange to see all these tourists, with cameras, taking pictures.”

The mix of mega-wealth and modesty has proven magnetic each spring. Back in 2022, shortly after opening Godega Market, a corner store and cafe, owners David Kerr, 35, and his partner, Nate Flick, 34, were still working the counter when they heard the impact of Berkshire’s annual meeting.

Standing by the coffee machine, “every third or fourth” accent in the line prompted Kerr, 34, to ask where customers were from. The answers varied from Australia to Brazil. “It was very refreshing,” he said.

A short walk away, Kitchen Table was also humming this weekend. Jessica Duggan, 44, estimated that Sunday – the day after Berkshire shareholders fill up Omaha’s 18,975-seat CHI arena – was typically the cafe’s biggest of the year. The whole weekend is “really huge for us,” added Colin.

“You can talk with probably any business, any restaurant, any hotel during this period,” said Deborah Ward, executive director of Visit Omaha, its tourism agency. “Berkshire Hathaway makes an impact every year.”
long-meeting-but-everyone-exhausting.jpg

For all that the firm has given Omaha, Buffett claims, it has also been rewarded. Both its architects were born there, and the executives tapped to lead it forward – Abel, 61, who already oversees Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, and Ajit Jain, its vice chairman of insurance operations, 72 – previously lived in the city.

“So what is going on? Is it Omaha’s water? Is it Omaha’s air?” Buffett wondered in his annual letter. “Is it some strange planetary phenomenon akin to that which has produced Jamaica’s sprinters, Kenya’s marathon runners, or Russia’s chess experts?”

“Keep an open mind. Come to Omaha in May, inhale the air, drink the water,” he wrote, urging investors to introduce themselves to his sister, Bertie, “and her good-looking daughters”.

Whether to hear from Buffett or meet Bertie’s daughters, people came.

Ramya and Shiva Amrit flew from Bellevue, Washington. Both have followed Berkshire since high school. While Ramya agrees that it’s “not going to be the same” without Buffett, he and his wife plan to keep coming. Abel is “a close second”, he said, “so I’ll still be here.”
3993.jpg

Many shareholders arrive a day early for a discount shopping day. “This is really, really, really busy,” said Priscilla Cardenas, 59, who first bought shares 15 years ago, and turned up hours before doors opened to find bargains at Fruit of the Loom, Berkshire’s clothing retailer.

“People love to see Warren,”
said Nancy, 62, who traveled from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

For all that the firm has given Omaha, Buffett claims, it has also been rewarded. Both its architects were born there, and the executives tapped to lead it forward – Abel, 61, who already oversees Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, and Ajit Jain, its vice chairman of insurance operations, 72 – previously lived in the city.

“So what is going on? Is it Omaha’s water? Is it Omaha’s air?” Buffett wondered in his annual letter. “Is it some strange planetary phenomenon akin to that which has produced Jamaica’s sprinters, Kenya’s marathon runners, or Russia’s chess experts?”

“Keep an open mind. Come to Omaha in May, inhale the air, drink the water,” he wrote, urging investors to introduce themselves to his sister, Bertie, “and her good-looking daughters”.

Whether to hear from Buffett or meet Bertie’s daughters, people came.


Ramya and Shiva Amrit flew from Bellevue, Washington. Both have followed Berkshire since high school. While Ramya agrees that it’s “not going to be the same” without Buffett, he and his wife plan to keep coming. Abel is “a close second”, he said, “so I’ll still be here.”

Many shareholders arrive a day early for a discount shopping day. “This is really, really, really busy,” said Priscilla Cardenas, 59, who first bought shares 15 years ago, and turned up hours before doors opened to find bargains at Fruit of the Loom, Berkshire’s clothing retailer.

“People love to see Warren,” said Nancy, 62, who traveled from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“Keeping the dream alive – the financial dream,” added her friend Lisa, 60. “Money’s not taboo for him. Being extra wealthy is not taboo.”

Michael Graham, 22, drove 14 hours from Youngstown, Ohio, with his dad, also Michael, 59. Buffett “just has that way about him”, he said. “Whenever he talks, you just want to listen.”

The legacy of Omaha’s so-called oracle will endure, according to Graham. “I feel like the base he’s built, it’s hard to mess it up,” he said. But will investors still turn up in droves once Abel, Buffett’s publicity-shy heir apparent, is running the show?

“That’s a good question.”
It's funny, his protege and successor is himself 62 years old. Dude might be 70 by the time he finally gets put in charge. Who knows.

Buffett always spoke highly of one of his operating managers, Rose Blumkin. She ran Nebraska Furniture Mart. She worked on the floor selling furniture until she was 104.
 
Interesting fact:

Buffett had 474, 998 shares of BRK.A before he started donating them. He's given well more than half away at this point. If he still had all his shares, they would be worth $331.5 billion today, making him the wealthiest man in the world by about $100 billion (at least ostensibly, who knows how much Putin is really worth).
He sounds poor?

@Revolver
 
Are the World Book encyclopedias even still actually around? That was actually one of Berkshire's largest businesses at one point, but it collapsed around 1995, because of the internet. Can't even see any info in their financial reports on it for decades now.

He took a lot of pride in that. I had a set from 1989 I think. Went through it a lot as kid. Funny how much things have changed. Pluto's not even a planet anymore! :eek:
- I dont know the answer. But they're pretty expensive here. Would like to own all!
 
Last edited:
I doubt he even thinks about it let alone regrets it. I'm sure he'd rather be remembered as one of the greatest philanthropists of our times rather than one of the richest people.
- He is joking. Being the biggest philantropist is actually a far harder archieviment. I doubt many men that reach this fortune, would abdicate of so much money.
 

These Asian firms in Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway portfolio have surged, with one soaring 30%​

PUBLISHED THU, AUG 29 20244:29 AM EDTUPDATED THU, AUG 29 20249:23 PM EDT
Sheila Chiang
@IN/SHEILACHIANG

  • The five Asian trading firms in Warren Buffett-backed Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio — Itochu Corp, Marubeni Corp, Mitsubishi Corp, Mitsui & Co, and Sumitomo Corp — have surged, with one rising as much 30% in 2024.
  • These five names are also the biggest of Japan’s so-called sogo-shosha, or general trading companies, in which Berkshire placed big bets in 2020 and subsequently increased stakes in later years.
  • Berkshire hit a $1 trillion market capitalization on Wednesday, the first non-technology company in the U.S. to hit the milestone.
Shares of the five trading firms in Warren Buffett-backed Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio — Itochu Corp, Marubeni Corp, Mitsubishi Corp, Mitsui & Co, and Sumitomo Corp — have surged, with one rising as much 30% in 2024.

These five names are also the biggest of Japan’s so-called sogo-shosha, or general trading companies, in which Berkshire placed big bets in 2020 and subsequently increased stakes in later years.

Japan’s trading houses, which trade in a wide range of products and materials, played a big role in Japan’s economic growth.

And they are increasingly operating as global venture capital and private equity businesses – which, for Buffett, these diversified operations could be part of the draw.

Berkshire hit a $1 trillion market capitalization on Wednesday, the first non-technology company in the U.S. to reach the milestone.

As of Thursday morning, the company was worth $994.58 billion. Shares of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate have surged 30.3% in 2024, far above the S&P 500′s 17.24% gain.

Though it holds Japanese and Chinese equities, it mostly invests in American companies, with Apple, American Express, Bank of America Corp. and Coca-Cola Co forming the bulk of its portfolio.

Here are the Asian companies which Berkshire has invested in:

Japan’s largest trading houses​

Mitsubishi Corp, Itochu Corp, Mitsui & Co, Marubeni Corp and Sumitomo Corp have seen their shares surge 33.3%, 29.8%, 14.6%, 9% and 10.9% in 2024, respectively, according to LSEG data.
Berkshire raised its stakes in these top five trading firms to around 9%, the firm said in its 2023 annual report, up from 6-7% in 2022.
“Berkshire continues to hold its passive and long-term interest in five very large Japanese companies, each of which operates in a highly-diversified manner somewhat similar to the way Berkshire itself is run,” the firm wrote.
The company noted that all five companies “follow shareholder-friendly policies that are much superior to those customarily practiced in the U.S.”
“Each of the five has reduced the number of its outstanding shares at attractive prices.”

China’s largest EV maker BYD​

Berkshire was an early investor in Chinese EV maker BYD, having first purchased about 225 million shares in 2008 for approximately $230 million.

That bet turned out to be extremely lucrative as the EV market saw explosive growth in China and elsewhere.

BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares have risen about 6% this year while its Shenzhen-listed shares have surged nearly 19%.

However, the investment company has been trimming its stake in BYD, and now holds just 4.94%, according to LSEG. Nomura analyst Joel Ying in July noted intense competition in the Chinese EV market as one of the likely reasons that influenced Berkshire’s decision.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/29/the...berkshire-hathaway-portfolio-have-surged.html
 
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