Buffett opened the letter by acknowledging that he has sometimes made errors through the years with out providing many particular examples, however he assured shareholders that the person he has chosen to sooner or later succeed him as CEO, Greg Abel, is not one in all them. He wrote that Abel shall be able to act each time he spots vital funding alternatives.
“We’re neutral in our selection of fairness autos, investing in both selection primarily based upon the place we are able to finest deploy your (and my household’s) financial savings. Typically, nothing appears compelling; very occasionally we discover ourselves knee-deep in alternatives. Greg has vividly proven his potential to behave at such instances,” Buffett wrote.
And Abel could have loads of sources to work with on condition that Berkshire now holds $334.201 billion money after promoting off a lot of its Apple and Financial institution of America inventory prior to now yr and persevering with to generate cash from all its subsidiaries that embody Geico insurance coverage, BNSF railroad, a group of main utilities and an assortment of main producers and well-known retail companies that embody manufacturers like Dairy Queen and See’s Sweet. That is virtually double the $167.6 billion money Berkshire held a yr in the past.
Buffett did discover a number of issues to make use of a few of that money on final yr by spending $3.9 billion to amass the remainder of its utility enterprise from the property of a former associate and one other $2.6 billion to purchase the remainder of the Pilot truck cease chain. Buffett mentioned he additionally elevated Berkshire’s funding in 5 main Japanese conglomerates. Berkshire has now spent $13.8 billion over the previous six years on these Japanese investments that at the moment are value $23.5 billion.
However whereas Buffett has struggled to seek out main acquisitions in recent times he affirmed that he has no plans to supply a dividend. In what may be a nod to the 94-year-old Buffett’s age, the legendary investor introduced that this yr’s shareholder assembly in Could that routinely attracts tens of 1000’s of individuals shall be shorter. Buffett and Berkshire’s two vice chairmen will solely reply questions from 8 a.m. till 1 p.m. – a number of hours lower than normal. Buffett additionally acknowledged utilizing a cane today to keep away from “falling flat on my face.”
