No. of Recommendations: 3
I think that Berkshire Hathaway is the best company in the world, but that's basically all because of Warren. Warren is truly unique in his honesty, skill and shareholder friendliness. When Warren steps down as CEO in a few months, things will change. The change might be slow at first, but it's inevitable. Berkshire will become an average company, and owning Berkshire will become no better than owning the S&P 500, except that, as Buffett pointed out, it will have single-company risk.
A few specifics, not to sound too critical: BNSF does not look to be much different than its peers, and BHE suffers from owning PacifiCorp. GEICO has gotten its combined ratio up, but basically by increasing prices, reducing advertising and cutting the workforce, down from 50,000 employees to 20,000. Acquisitions like Lubrizol and Precision Cast Parts, which were made by Warren but pushed by David Sokol and Todd Combs, have not been anything to write home about. The best capital allocation of late was Apple stock, which Warren bought.
After Warren steps down as CEO Berkshire will still be a good company, with competent managers and a very strong balance sheet, but it will no longer be the great company that it has been under Warren. It saddens me.
