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The week's question
In March 2025, in the thread "Re: OT, out", Umm asked the members: "Do you think it is because America is made up of magical soil that makes businesses based in America magically profitable?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
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Author: wabuffo100 ✹  😊 😞
Number: of 22351 
Subject: Re: 2026 YTD Performance
Date: 05/05/26 12:07 PM
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Munger didn't just nibble; he deployed nearly all available liquid capital at the bottom of the market.
* **Total Initial Investment:** Approximately **$20.4 million**.
* **Concentration:** This represented roughly **71%** of the company's total cash and equivalents at the time.
* **The Holdings:** He concentrated the money into just four primary stocks:
1. **Wells Fargo (WFC):** Purchased near its all-time lows (around $8/share).
2. **Bank of America (BAC):** Bought when it was trading under $5/share.
3. **U.S. Bancorp (USB)**
4. **POSCO** (a South Korean steel maker)


I don't mean to be "that guy", but... that's not quite correct. I think your AI got the order of these investments a little scrambled.

2009:
Munger spent $15.5m to buy mostly WFC and a little USB. He also spent $4.9m buying a corporate bond yielding over 10%. It was never disclosed what bond or note he purchased, but I strongly suspect it was the Altria 10.2% 30-year notes that were issued by Philip Morris USA that summer. He sold those bonds in the first quarter of 2018 because the bonds had appreciated in value due to the fall in interest rates.

2011:
Next came the investment in foreign manufacturers. $11.1m was invested in Posco (PKX) and the HK-listed shares of BYD. Posco was kinda ho-hum and was divested, but BYD after a very slow start (and continued added investments by Charlie in subsequent years) has been an absolute home run. However, lately the BYD has been partially sold to take advantage of a large gain.

Lastly, in Q4, 2011, Munger purchased BAC for the DJCO portfolio making a $13.6m investment. Notably, this was around the time of Buffett's convertible preferred deal with BAC. All of the bank positions were slightly trimmed by the new DJCO CEO in order to pay down some of the DJCO margin debt.

I hope that was helpful and doesn't detract for the spirit of your post.

Bill

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This community has written 21,861 posts about Berkshire Hathaway. The article-length ones it recommended most:
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