Post #8351 by mungofitch on the Berkshire Hathaway board

Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) ❤

Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (31)

Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!

No. of Recommendations: 9

Yes. The reason, I think, was a step change in the growth rate of Berkshire's equity portfolio, not the growth rate of earnings.

It seems to be mainly due to the complete restructuring of the firm, and the investment portfolio, as a result of the Gen Re acquisition. In the portfolio, it was a huge switch from an equity emphasis towards bonds. From end-1997 to end-1998, equities as a percent of book fell from 115% to 69%, (even though equities were up in absolute terms), primarily due to the ocean of bonds that came with Gen Re.

It's easy to forget how transformative that deal was. Total assets rose by a factor of 2.18

Jim

Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!

Print the post

Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (31)

Prev | Next

Announcements

Berkshire Hathaway FAQ

Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.

A community forum supporting civilized, and highly helpful, self-educating investors that come together for Shrewdness and merry spirits. These message boards closely follow the look and feel of the old message boards at boards.fool.com prior to the boards redirected to discussion.fool.com. Shrewd'm is not affiliated with the comprehensive and excellent investment website, The Motley Fool (TMF), in any way. The Shrewd commmunity here has owed, and continues to owe, gratitude to The Motley Fool for nurturing a culture of jovial irreverence towards Wall St, and that tradition will continue here.