Subject: Re: Bary in Barrons, brk
From todays piece in Barron’s, “ All five stocks are higher in 2026. Mitsubishi and Marubeni are up about 20%, topping the benchmark Topix index, which is 7% higher.

Berkshire’s cost is $13.8 billion, meaning the company has nearly tripled its investment, which began in 2019 and was disclosed by Berkshire in September 2020. Chairman Warren Buffett revealed the cost basis and discussed the investment in his shareholder letter a year ago.

The calculation doesn’t include currency gains because Berkshire effectively hedged its exposure to the yen by selling debt in the Japanese currency to help finance the purchases. Berkshire had more than $2 billion of after-tax gains on its yen borrowings through the end of 2024, Buffett disclosed

This reflects the yen’s depreciation of about 40% versus the dollar since 2020. A weaker yen means it would take fewer dollars to repay the debt, reducing its size in U.S. dollar terms.“ well done uncle Warren.