Invite ye felawes and frendes desirous in gold to enter the gates of Shrewd'm, for they will thanke ye later.
- Manlobbi
Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
No. of Recommendations: 1
Did I miss the detailed discussion on PacificCorp selling assets to contain liability and preserve liquidity? What's the plan there?
This letter was disappointingly mostly everything's-fine-corporate speak, IMO. But maybe I'm just cranky and miss Warren.
No. of Recommendations: 1
wasn't post Buffett ? Remember this letter is up to really December 2025 . Post that would be addressed at the annual meeting
No. of Recommendations: 6
He said no dividends, at least at this time.
Our approach to cash dividends continues to be that Berkshire will not pay dividends so long as more than one dollar of market value for shareholders is reasonably likely to be created by each dollar of retained earnings. On an annual basis, the Board reviews our policy.
No surprise there.
No. of Recommendations: 3
I loved the letter! Very businesslike but also human and with lots of attention to culture and integrity. And appreciated that he kept the length similar to that of the past.
Two quibbles:
Seemed like he gave short shrift to the "Manufacturing – Consumer Products; and Service and Retailing" segment.
And he said, "Ted Weschler manages about 6% of our investments, including a portion of the portfolio formerly overseen by Todd Combs." Does that mean "about 6%" of the "$297.8 billion equity securities portfolio," in which case he's still managing only around $18 billion; or 6% of the larger portfolio of investments that includes cash, cash equivalents, and bonds; or something even greater including wholly owned businesses?
No. of Recommendations: 3
Does that mean "about 6%" of the "$297.8 billion equity securities portfolio," in which case he's still managing only around $18 billion; or 6% of the larger portfolio of investments that includes cash, cash equivalents, and bonds; or something even greater including wholly owned businesses?
Page K-55 of the annual report says, "At December 31, 2025, our insurance and other businesses held cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury Bills (net of payables for unsettled purchases) of $369.0 billion. Investments in equity and fixed maturity securities, excluding our equity method investments, were $315.6 billion."
Six percent of the total of those two numbers would be around $41 billion. But of the latter alone, around $19 billion. I'm inclined to assume Weschler is responsible for the latter.
No. of Recommendations: 7
"Our approach to cash dividends continues to be that Berkshire will not pay dividends so long as more than one dollar of market value for shareholders is reasonably likely to be created by each dollar of retained earnings."
No surprise there.
Well, somebody is going to have egg on his face.
Not only no dividend by the end of the quarter but also no dividend by the end of the year.
I wish he would shut up about it, but he probably won't. Spammers gotta spam.
No. of Recommendations: 2
I am a bit disappointed by a lack of in-depth discussion of wild fire risks, potential resolution of lawsuits & estimated payments at BHE. Also would have been nice to know what the BHE strategy is with regulated utilities going forward given the increased risks.
No. of Recommendations: 1
After a day of reflection, it's obvious I was expecting too much from Greg's first letter. I do trust him to try to fix the ongoing problems we have with some of the subs, specifically BHE (where he has the most experience), Pilot, PCP, Shaw, Kraft, BNSF, etc. He's an operations guy, so these challenges should not scare him.
My bigger worry is the investment portfolio, and the lack of clarity there. Does he really have the skill and experience to make changes to the existing portfolio? To make big, multi billion dollar moves like WB and CM did? He mentioned in the letter that he would "adjust a holding if we see fundamental changes in long term prospects" (bottom of page 15), so it's definitely possible.
Would large moves like that not require board approval?
No. of Recommendations: 5
