Warren Buffett -- BRK -- News And Commentary -- August 4, 2024

Locator: 48322BRK.

Warren Buffett is occasionally tracked here.

The Bill Gates chapter: has the relationship between Bill Gates and Warren Buffett finally reached its last act? Link to The New York Times.  

One factoid from the article: the annual budget of the Gates Foundation exceeds that of the World Health Organization. Buffett was once on the board of the Gates Foundation, but no longer on the board, and he will no longer be giving any more money to the Gates Foundation as of June, 2024.

Rambling:

1. Is Buffett still making all the major decisions, or is he pretty much a figurehead as of 2024?

2. Let's assume he is still making all the major decisions, that he is not simply a figurehead in 2024. Is he raising cash to make one last huge acquisition, one last hurrah -- he is 93 years old; or is he raising cash simply based on "fundamentals" -- preparing for a downturn; taking advantage of bonds before interest rates go lower or is he raising cash, concerned about a financial crisis? But whatever it is, it has nothing to do with his age?

3. Most likely: a combination of all three -- a) preparing for an economic downturn; b) converting some equity positions into very safe interest-generating accounts; and, c) perhaps thinking about a large acquisition.

Having been burned on several large acquisitions, my hunch? Observers are more interested than he is is making one last large acquisition. It's good copy for business columns but not necessarily good business strategy for him. Having said, the surprised all (most) of us with his investment in Chubb, but at the end of the day, it was only 6% of that insurance behemoth.

As noted below, I am the last person to listen to when it comes to financial statements, but:

• revenues, $177,896 (2023) --> $183,522 (2024): an increase of 3%.
• earnings, $90,187 (2023) --> $53,843 (2024): a decrease of 40%

Disclaimer:

• I often make errors in simple calculations;
• I often misread things
• I have little experience with financial statements

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Financial Statement

I'm the last person to ask about financial statements, but it seems the 1H24 is quite ... well, not something that I would expect. Whatever.

BRK-B -- 2Q24:

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