Berkshire 1989 Shareholder Letter, Part 1 - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the thirteenth in a series of blog posts that will analyze / summarize Warren Buffett's shareholder letters from 1977-2015. For all of the prior shareholder letters, see here. The 1989 letter weighs in at 14,420 words, a 24% increase from 11,670 words the prior year. Berkshire's gain in net worth during 1989 was $1.515 billion, or 44% of beginning book value, up from a $569 million gain in 1988. Therefore 1989 represented the first year that net worth increased in exc
Joseph P. Kennedy's $45 Million Windfall 1922 Pond Creek Coal Trade
Joseph P. Kennedy (or JPK), patriarch of the Kennedy Political Dynasty, has a well-known biography. Starting out as a Wall Street wheeler-dealer, then moving on to make a killing as a financier during the consolidation of the moving picture industry in the mid- to late-1920s, thence to Washington, D.C., as President Roosevelt's first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, next to London as Ambassador to St. James's Court in the lead-up to World War II, and finall
Disingenuous Management PR Spin: License and Marketing Termination Edition
To wit, here is management's press release... They are "elated" (elated!!!) that the license and marketing agreements with Neogen have been terminated. And here is the reaction of investors... Meanwhile, the following was included on page 16 of the IPO Prospectus for SNES filed just over a month ago: We do not currently have internal full-scale manufacturing capability and we must rely upon third parties to manufacture our products or develop our own full-scale manufacturing
Berkshire 1988 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the twelveth in a series of blog posts that will analyze / summarize Warren Buffett's shareholder letters from 1977-2015. For all of the prior shareholder letters, see here. The 1988 letter weighs in at 11,670 words, a 7% decrease from the slightly under 12,500 words the prior year. Berkshire's gain in net worth during 1988 was $569 million, or 20% of beginning book value, up from a $464 million gain in 1987. A FEW THOUGHTS ON GAAP ACCOUNTING Buffett in the 1988 lette
Berkshire 1987 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the eleventh in a series of blog posts that will analyze / summarize Warren Buffett's shareholder letters from 1977-2015. For all of the prior shareholder letters, see here. The 1987 letter weighs in at slightly under 12,500 words, a 9% decrease versus slightly under 13,700 words the prior year (note that the 1986 letter had an appendix). Berkshire's gain in net worth during 1987 was $464 million, or 19.5% of beginning book value. This compares with just $21.9 million
Seven Corners Initiates Coverage on Allergan (AGN) With A Sell, Due to Non-GAAP Accounting Concerns
Today Seven Corners Capital Management initiated coverage on Allergan (AGN). Specifically, we are short AGN for, among other things, the following reasons: (1) Last year the SEC issued guidance on impermissible non-GAAP financial metrics; (2) Allergan's "non-GAAP EPS" measure appears to violate these rules; and (3) Allergan will likely need to cease using (or substantial alter) its "non-GAAP EPS" metric. Due to the belief that AGN's true "economic earnings" are well below its
Berkshire 1986 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the tenth in a series of blog posts that will analyze / summarize Warren Buffett's shareholder letters from 1977-2015. For all of the prior shareholder letters, see here. The 1986 letter weighs in at slightly under 13,700 words, less than a 1% increase versus slightly under 13,600 words the prior year. Fortunately for shareholders, Berkshire's stock price was tied a bit more to earnings than the shareholder letter word count--and earnings in 1986 were a hefty $492.5 m
Berkshire 1985 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the ninth in a series of blog posts that will analyze / summarize Warren Buffett's shareholder letters from 1977-2015. For all of the prior shareholder letters, see here. The 1985 letter weighs in at slightly under 13,600 words, an 8% increase versus slightly over 12,600 words the prior year. Berkshire earned $613.6 million in 1985, so the company made $45,118 on an "earnings-per-word" (or EPW) basis (note that this figure has not been adjusted for any non-cash, unusu
Berkshire 1984 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the eighth in a series of blog posts that will analyze / summarize Warren Buffett's shareholder letters from 1977-2015. For all of the prior shareholder letters, see here. The 1984 letter (including the Appendix) weighs in at slightly over 12,600 words, a 10% increase versus the prior year. It begins with the observation that Berkshire's $133 gain in book value per share during the preceding year "sounds pretty good but actually it’s mediocre". If every stock I own in
Berkshire 1983 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the seventh in a series of blog posts that will analyze / summarize Warren Buffett's shareholder letters from 1977-2015. For all of the prior shareholder letters, see here. The 1983 letter (including the Appendix) weighs in at slightly over 11,420 words, a 45.7% increase versus the prior year. Not to be outdone, Berkshire's stock price outpaced the S&P 500 that year by...46.6%. Coincidence? Personally, it smells like--to borrow a phrase--a "rigged" job... In any event
Berkshire 1982 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the sixth in a series of blog posts that will analyze / summarize Warren Buffett's shareholder letters from 1977-2015. For all of the prior shareholder letters, see here. The 1982 letter weighs in at slightly over 7,840 words, an 18% increase versus the prior year. After a year of slacking off, Buffett set a new all-time high for word count in Berkshire's shareholder letters--bravo, Warren. ECONOMIC [OR 'OWNER'] EARNINGS Buffett introduced a new concept to his shareho
