Posted on 03/04/2006 7:16:34 AM PST by Liz
Warren Buffett, the second-richest man in America, is $1.8 billion poorer this year due to bad bets - also losing billions for his loyal following......considered by some as the world's greatest investor, has suffered an embarrassing 2.36 percent loss in returns on his huge Berkshire Hathaway empire in the past year.
The pricey shares skidded from their peak last December of $91,200 apiece to $87,490 yesterday.....a drop of nearly $4.7 billion in just three months for his shareholders.
Berkshire Hathaway - built largely on insurance businesses and blue chip stocks - got hurt from insurance losses and bad bets on the dollar......also lost about $926 million in the first half of last year betting the dollar would drop, but it rose 10 percent against other currencies.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Buffett owns the Buffalo News, the biggest paper in Erie County, and as liberal as you can get. In fact, it started Tom Toles on his road to infamy with his disgusting cartoon of a soldier with no arms and legs.
As soon as people heard him making commie noises, they should have taken their money and run.
So? He became THE Warren Buffett by being right in maybe 55% of his investment decisions. Were it 95-100%, then it would be "planet Earth - Warren Buffett, sole proprietor". So what is, or could be, more natural than him occasionally making the wrong business move? His decisions are calculated ones, and either his info could be incomplete or erroneous, or he could miscalculate. Happens even to the best of us - even to Warren Buffett.
Cheapskate (grin).
Did Warren never hear of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (/sarc)?
"Buffett owns the Buffalo News, the biggest paper in Erie County, and as liberal as you can get. In fact, it started Tom Toles on his road to infamy with his disgusting cartoon of a soldier with no arms and legs."
The things we learn on FR. Toles is one of the biggest hate America, Christians, Rebublics and our military maggots in America.
Betting against Bush and America. Any wonder why he & $oro$ wanted Kerry and the Dinos to win the election?
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fightes
idealogical positions are too easy to marry. soros seems at times to be blinded by his own genius.
The old gasbag let his left-wing friends talk him into betting against the US, and it cost him dearly. No problem. He'll just make more.
What's the discount on a 100 shares??
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
All allusions to Soros make my day. Many thanks to one and all.
O-o-o-o that's gonna smart.
There is an incredible amount of confusing data about BH coming out. The report below shows a massive increase in profit for BH. Of course this is Market Watch which was owned by CBS and still has a ton of liberal maggots getting a paycheck.
Also of interest is BH owns 18% of the Washington Post. I wonder how many other left wing fishwraps BH owns. The left wing newspaper where Toles works is one.
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B37649E6A%2D989C%2D4756%2D84B5%2D137102D0436F%7D&siteid=yhoo
Berkshire earnings zoom 54% in quarter
By Mark Cotton, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:48 AM ET Mar 4, 2006
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said Saturday its fourth-quarter profit surged 54% despite heavy payouts to hurricane-related claims.
"We estimate our loss from Katrina at $2.5 billion - and her ugly sisters, Rita and Wilma, cost us an additional $.9 billion," said Berkshire Hathaway's Chief Executive
Officer Warren Buffett in his annual letter to shareholders. Read Buffett's letter to shareholders
The Omaha, Neb.-based holding company reported net income for the fourth quarter of $5.1 billion, or $3,330 a share. Revenue shot up 27% to $25.37 billion.
For 2005, Berkshire Hathaway posted a 16.6% rise in net profit of $8.5 billion, or $5,538, a share, up from $7.31 billion, or $4,753 a share, last year. Revenue rose 9.6% to $81.6 billion from $74.75 billion in 2004.
Insurance
In Berkshire's (BRKA : berkshire hathaway inc del cl a
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Last: 87,490.00+490.00+0.56%
3:51pm 03/03/2006
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BRKA87,490.00, +490.00, +0.6%) (BRKB : berkshire hathaway inc del cl b
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Last: 2,911.40+18.40+0.64%
4:00pm 03/03/2006
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BRKB2,911.40, +18.40, +0.6%) insurance group, the company booked an underwriting profit of $53 million in 2005, down from $1.6 billion a year ago.
The sharp decline in profit is due to a $334 million underwriting loss at its General Re unit and a $1.07 billion loss at B-H Reinsurance as a result of the payouts linked to damage caused by the hurricanes that battered the Gulf Coast and Florida in 2005.
These losses were partially offset by a rise in underwriting profits at its GEICO car insurance unit. In 2005, profit rose to $1.22 billion from 970 million a year ago.
Auto policies in force grew by 12.1% at GEICO, a gain increasing its market share of U.S. private passenger auto business from about 5.6% to about 6.1%.
"When Berkshire acquired control of GEICO in 1996, its annual advertising expenditures were $31 million. Last year we were up to $502 million. And I can't wait to spend more," said Buffett.
Acquisitions
Berkshire said it now holds a 12.2% stake (WFC : Wells Fargo & Company
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Last: 63.82-0.02-0.03%
4:01pm 03/03/2006
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WFC63.82, -0.02, 0.0%) in American Express Co. and (AXP : American Express Company
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Last: 53.75-0.03-0.06%
4:01pm 03/03/2006
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AXP53.75, -0.03, -0.1%) , an 8.4% stake in Coca-Cola Co. (KO : The Coca-Cola Company
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Last: 41.80-0.11-0.26%
4:02pm 03/03/2006
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KO41.80, -0.11, -0.3%) .
Among its other significant shareholdings, Berkshire Hathaway holds an 18% stake in The Washington Post, a 16.2% stake in Moody's Corporation and a 16% stake in White Mountains Insurance.
Buffett said his company has also substantially increased its holdings in Wells Fargo Co. and established a 5.6% stake in Anheuser-Busch (BUD : Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.
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Last: 41.22-0.15-0.36%
4:02pm 03/03/2006
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BUD41.22, -0.15, -0.4%) and 0.5% stake in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT : Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
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Last: 45.33+0.27+0.60%
4:00pm 03/03/2006
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WMT45.33, +0.27, +0.6%) . Berkshire holds a 5.7% stake in Wells Fargo.
Buffett cautioned his investors not to expect "miracles" from Berkshire's equity portfolio.
"The likelihood is that their per-share earnings, in aggregate, will grow 6% to 8% per share over the decade and that stock prices will more or less match that growth."
The price of Berkshire Hathaway's A-listed shares (BRKA : berkshire hathaway inc del cl a
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Last: 87,490.00+490.00+0.56%
3:51pm 03/03/2006
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BRKA87,490.00, +490.00, +0.6%) rose $490 Friday to close at $87,490. The company's B-listed shares (BRKB : berkshire hathaway inc del cl b
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Last: 2,911.40+18.40+0.64%
4:00pm 03/03/2006
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BRKB2,911.40, +18.40, +0.6%) added $18.40 to $2,911.40.
"Berkshire had a decent year in 2005," Buffett said in his annual letter to shareholders.
Nice eye-opening contribution to the thread---thanks.
"BH is not Warren Buffett. Buffett has investments outside of BH, of which he got hammered."
Wrong BH is Warrent Buffet. Buffet has essentially all of his money in BH. Buffet takes a salary of (I believe) 100,000 and leaves everything else in BH.
And the fv, tn, ty. Some days better than others. LOL.
why the dx and not the currencies? what you think of electronic dx?
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