The Digest #185
Capital Allocation, Progressive's strategy, Reading plans, Damodaran's free courses, Looking back at Alibaba's IPO, Chris Davis, Outsider CEOs, Shareholder activists, Oprah ...
The Digest #182
Passive Investing, Low Trust Societies, Greg Abel in the spotlight, Capital allocation at Berkshire, Better habits for 2024, Amusing CPA stories, Ben Graham, Charlie Munger, Pernod Ricard ...
Business Lessons from Tom Murphy
We can learn a great deal about business and capital allocation by studying Tom Murphy’s long and successful career in broadcasting ...
Berkshire’s Repurchase Policy: Too Little, Too Late?
Berkshire Hathaway acquired $928 million of its own stock during the third quarter of 2018 through a series of purchases of Class A and Class B shares from August 7 to 24. A repurchase of this size, relative to the ...
Thoughts on Share Repurchases and Capital Allocation
The concept of share repurchases is not particularly complicated.  Repurchase programs allow companies to allocate capital toward purchasing their own shares either on public marketplaces or through privately negotiated transactions.  Capital allocation is one of the most important recurring functions ...
Berkshire Hathaway: The Next Ten Years
Berkshire Hathaway is expected to report 2015 results on February 27 along with Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders.  Mr. Buffett's practice of releasing the report on a Saturday morning is intended to promote greater thought and reflection on the ...
The Problem of Rational Capital Allocation
"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is." -- Yogi Berra Imagine that you are the founder of a highly successful small chain of restaurants.  After immigrating to the United States from Italy as ...
An Examination of Berkshire Hathaway’s Retained Earnings Test
Berkshire Hathaway appears almost certain to fail Warren Buffett's five year earnings retention test when the 2013 annual report is released in February. We assess the validity of the test as well as the implications for Berkshire Hathaway if Mr ...
Burlington Northern’s CEO Plans for Accelerated Capex
Over the past several months, many Berkshire Hathaway shareholders have been thinking about the company's strategy for Burlington Northern Santa Fe which was acquired on February 12. Is it a "crazy deal" as Columbia University Professor Bruce Greenwald has claimed? ...
Share Buybacks Gain Popularity as Stock Prices Rebound
It has become relatively common to read annual reports of companies that previously engaged in regular share buybacks yet mysteriously decided to halt the practice during 2009 even as share prices hit multi-year lows. As The Economist has noted, share ...