JAMIE CARR: Berkshire Hathaway — the dinosaurs who still rule
When faced with the musings of a couple of nonagenarians, the younger of whom boasts of making his first equity investment on March 11 1942, it is tempting to think that in the age of the metaverse they must be about as relevant as a pair of mastodons bellowing across the primeval swamp. However, the view changes a little with the realisation that these particular mastodons are sitting on top of a conglomerate worth $713bn, with a track record of a compounded annual gain of 20.1% from 1965 to 2021.
Berkshire Hathaway’s size makes it difficult to find investment opportunities big enough to move the dial, and it is sitting on a cash pile of $146.7bn. Warren Buffett says he has been struggling to find opportunities that excite him, with low interest rates contributing to inflated valuations across the board. Instead, he has been buying back Berkshire stock, to the tune of $27.1bn last year. With investors fleeing the frothier end of the market, old-school businesses like many of ...
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