BRK And The Kiplinger Report -- The 13F, 1Q24, Part 2 -- April 28, 202

Locator: 47081BRK. 

Barron's: BRK and Warren Buffett. 

For some 30,000 Berkshire shareholders expected to attend the meeting, the future will be the focus as Buffett fields questions for more than five hours in what could be his only public appearance of the year. Joining Buffett, 93, on the dais will be Vice Chairman Greg Abel, 61, likely tasked with the role of Buffett’s successor as CEO, and Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, 72, who runs the company’s insurance operations. Together they will answer questions small and large: Can the stock beat the S&P 500 index SPX 1.02% ? Why have share repurchases declined since 2021? Can the company’s new management prove anywhere as capable as Buffett? Should Berkshire break up?

The "Warren Buffett watch" is tracked here, tabbed at the top of the blog.  

Recent posts devoted to Buffett:

• February 25, The Letter.
• 13F, 1Q24, part 1.
• March 19, 2024, part 1.
• March 19, 2024, part 2.

Now, for "13F, part 2." 

I finally posted my Buffett update after several iterations. There are probably errors -- content errors and typographical errors. But at least I understand it now. If the Buffett story is important to you, go to the source. Ignore my posts. 

I'm not going to go through it all over but for the past six months or so, there have been a lot of stories on Buffett and Japan:

• why Buffett got excited about Japan; and,
• the huge investments Buffett made in Japan
• how Buffett made a "killing" on his Japanese trades
  

So, let's look at the 13F or the news reports when Buffett jumped in and bought "Japan." These were the holdings (and first mention?) of these Japanese companies, the 13F from September 30, 2023:
the narrative: 

Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo, which are as of June 12, 2023. Tokyo Stock Exchange prices are converted to U.S. dollars from Japanese yen. Mitsubishi shares are adjusted for a 3-for-1 stock split on January 1, 2024.

At that CNBC link, scroll down to see the portfolio, the company, and percent of the BRK portfolio:

• Itochu: 1.4%
• Marubeni: 0.6%
• Mitsubishi: 2.1%
• Mitsui: 1.6%
• Sumitomo: 0.7%.

From Forbes, February 15, 2024:

Because the 13F does not include international stocks, Berkshire Hathaway initially announced the acquisition of about 5% of five Japanese trading companies at the end of August 2020. These holdings are Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co. Ltd., and Sumitomo Corp. Buffett revealed in April 2023 that Berkshire increased its stakes in these companies to 7.4%. Buffett indicated that these were intended to be long-term holdings, and Berkshire may still increase its stake to 9.9%.

If I did the math correctly, the previous "percents" add up to 6.4%. So, apparently the stakes have increased to 7.4%. This doesn't necessarily mean more buying, the stocks could have appreciated that much to affect the "percent of the portfolio."