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Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters, 1977-2024
AI source guide
How can I apply this idea: Buffett judges Berkshire, and every stock it owns, by return on equity capital and by the standard of a business owner buying a fractional interest in a real enterprise, not by a trader watching a ticker or a manager chasing earnings-per-share growth?
How can I apply this idea: Reported operating earnings are only the visible tip of Berkshire's real economic earnings; the larger mass sits underwater in the undistributed profits of partly-owned companies, and Buffett insists shareholders account for that mass whether GAAP does or not?
How can I apply this idea: Buffett names the unspoken motives (empire-building, size-envy, faith in managerial 'kisses') behind the premium prices most corporate acquirers pay, and states Berkshire's contrasting rule: it would rather own 10% of a wonderful business at a fair price than 100% of it at double the price?
