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Buffett’s Cash Pile Hits New Record At $382 Billion
It's a Berkshire weekend. They always sneak up on me.
Ol' Warren (and "ol'" isn't just a folksy col
Wondering if there’s already an AI version of Uncle Warren in the works…that really will run BRK after the real one is gone…?
Given the per-token cost of AI inference, it’s probably more cost-effective to rely on his highly paid carbon-based protégés whose sophisticated neural networks have already been fine tuned to emulate Uncle Warren.
No reason to buy something, just because he has waited so long. Make a mistake now, and you are remembered as “got too old and really screwed up”. Might not be time to redeem yourself. Let younger minds take over, give them their turn. He is probably leaving it in good hands.
Seems like he has missed a massive run up in the stock market. Is that good investing?
25 years ago he mostly stood on the sidelines and missed that massive runup too. Then I sold my BRK to go all-in chasing the internet – telecom tech bubble…which cratered my fantasy of early retirement! But – maybe this time is different?
I’ll be happy to keep a healthy position in the care of Uncle Warren’s ghost, even while enjoying steadily harvesting the fruits of substantial positioning in the current market mania!
I remember last year when Buffett was going to 30% cash, the official reasoning was that the ‘Buffett Indicator’ of S&P500 market cap over GDP was too high at over 100%. It’s now over 200% and still climbing. Some of the golden rules for those who would follow Buffett are to buy good companies at good prices, but not to try to time the market. If Buffett is waiting for a 60+% pullback in the market to buy, he may be waiting a long time. It may happen and he would look like a genius if it does, but it certainly looks like trying to time the market.
Mr. Buffett has accurately diagnosed his company’s situation. He has driven the value of his company as high as it’s going to go. Even the seven market giants won’t help BRK materially. Their market gains have nothing to do with real life so he hasn’t and go there. The only way buying NVDA, for example, can boost Berkshire’s performance is in market cap. He is leaving that prospect to individuals to risk their capital in. He tried Apple and discovered nothing good would come of that investment. Berkshire is a conglomerate that already owns everything that will make it better. This situation was inevitable and he has known it for at least a decade. Now he’s just going to let it pile up slowly because there really is no other choice.
The other choice is to return atleast some of that excess capital to shareholders. Isn’t that what corporations are supposed to do in a situation like this?
I’d love to see them start paying a dividend, but I don’t think it will happen while Buffett is still around
I think that when Warren Buffett passes, the company will do a massive buyback. The company needs to shrink, in order to continue to effectively manage the 39% of BRK that is/will continue to be owned by Buffett/his controlled entities.
It would be in keeping with Warren Buffett’s character to provide an exit ramp for long term stockholders who don’t want to be stockholders after he dies.