Locator: 49724BRK.
Quick: how much did BRK pay to start a position in GOOG?
Quick: how much did BRK pay for the Burlington Northern railway some years ago?
Quick: as a percent,
- BRK's cost to start a position in GOOG vs BRK's market value?
- BRK's cost to start a position in GOOG vs BRK's cash hoard?
I can't make this stuff up.
Market value: $1.07 trillion.
Cash hoard: $400 billion.
BNSF: $44 billion to buy the 70% he didn’t already own.
GOOG: initial position — $4.3 billion.
4.3 / 400 =0.0108 =1%.
But he didn’t pay for it from his cash position. He sold AAPL and took that cash to buy GOOG.
$4.3 billion / $1.07 trillion market cap =
4.3/1,080=0.00398 = 0.4%. Even if GOOG becomes a 10-bagger for BRK, it won’t move the needle. Neither AAPL nor GOOG pay much in dividends, but for the record, AAPL pays more.
