>>In other words, Coke's contribution to Berkshire wasn't just the return on the investment—it was also the return earned on the taxes Buffett never had to pay.

One way Warren took advantage of these huge unrealized gains was through the Gen Re acquisition. He used an overvalued equity portfolio (KO, but also Gillette) in 1998 to buy the insurer. IIRC, BRK was trading at 2x book at the time of the transaction so Warren issued stock instead of cash in the transaction.

The tagline was that he was selling his overvalued stock portfolio (KO) to buy a bond portfolio (Gen Re) - i.e, "selling" KO without actually selling it in a taxable transaction.

People have debated whether what seemed brilliant at the time (1998) actually worked out all that well as Gen Re later on had many issues with its insurance book and became a very messy turnaround.

But I thought I would add this historical point to the conversation.<<

EXCELLENT point! Another way to look at Coke is through Buffett's own lens. He's repeatedly said Berkshire shareholders should think of major equity holdings like Apple as partial ownership interests in businesses, much like BNSF or GEICO...We should view them more like actual subsidiaries rather than stocks. Viewed that way, Coke isn't simply a stock with a CAGR. It's a business that has returned enormous amounts of cash to Berkshire through decades of dividends while steadily increasing Berkshire's ownership percentage through buybacks—all without requiring another dollar of investment.