Berkshire 2004 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the twenty-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 2004 letter weighs in at 14,620 words, an 11% increase from 13,120 words the prior year. Berkshire's gain in net worth during 2004 was $8.3 billion, or 10.5% of beginning 2004 net worth. NATIONAL INDEMNITY COMPANY - OR HOW TO (PROPERLY) RUN AN INSURER Buffett identifies in the 2004 letter
Berkshire 2003 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the twenty-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 2003 letter weighs in at 13,120 words, a 9% decrease from 14,550 words the prior year. Berkshire's gain in net worth during 2003 was $13.6 billion, or 21% of beginning 2003 net worth. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE [CONTINUED] Buffett continues in the vein of the prior year's letter, discussing th
Memo to UAL Board of Directors - Fire CEO Munoz and Listen to Jeff Bezos
The most interesting thing to yours truly about the entire United Airlines 'We Love Assaulting Our Customers' Debacle was CEO Oscar Munoz's initial response, which was to circle the wagons and attack the victim. Here is the key text from this response [source here]... [W]hen we approached one of these passengers to explain apologetically that he was being denied boarding, he raised his voice and refused to comply with crew member instructions. • He was approached a few more t
Seven Corners Issues Follow-Up on Allergan (AGN), Reiterates Sell Rating Due to Non-GAAP Accounting
Allergan’s So-Called "Performance Net Income" Is A Cash-Flow Measure, Not A Net Income Measure. Allergan Has Thumbed its Nose At The SEC, Which Has Warned Against This Type of Misleading Non-GAAP Metric. To Bridge the GAAP (Pun Intended), We Propose a Realistic Calculation of Allergan’s True Economic Earnings. Even Using Extremely Generous Assumptions, Based on Our Non-GAAP Earnings Calculations We Estimate Allergan’s Valuation to be $117 Per Share, Indicating 50% Expected Do
Berkshire 2002 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the twenty-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 2002 letter weighs in at 14,550 words, an 18% increase from 12,330 words the prior year. Berkshire's gain in net worth during 2002 was $6.1 billion, or 10% of beginning 2002 net worth. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE--OR THE LACK THEREOF Buffett engages in quite a lengthy dissertation [some might say
Berkshire 2001 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the twenty-fifth 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 2001 letter weighs in at 12,330 words, a 7.5% decrease from 13,320 words the prior year. Berkshire's loss [sic] in net worth during 2001 was just $3.5 billion, or -6.2% [sic] of beginning 2001 net worth. PARALLEL UNIVERSE--BUFFETT LOSES MONEY Buffett actually managed to lose money in 2001,
Berkshire 2000 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the twenty-fourth 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 2000 letter weighs in at 13,320 words, an 8% increase from 12,340 words the prior year. Berkshire's gain in net worth during 2000 was just $3.96 billion, or 6.5% of beginning 2000 net worth. FROM BERKSHIRE TO BYRNE TO BEZOS BACK TO BUFFETT Buffett mentions in the 2000 letter that he neede
Berkshire 1999 Shareholder Letter - Cliff's Notes Version
This is the twenty-third 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 1999 letter weighs in at 12,340 words, a 2.7% increase from 12,020 words the prior year. Berkshire's gain in net worth during 1999 was just $358 million, or 0.5% of beginning 1998 net worth. EVEN G.O.A.T.S HAVE BAD YEARS Buffett had an uncharacteristically poor year in 1999, with book valu
