Warren Buffett controls the majority of cash, bond and stock holdings worth $220B as the Chief Investment Officer and CEO. Ted Weschler and Todd Combs each control $11B while Warren controls ~ 200B. BRK has not made any major acquisitions since the $36B acquisition of Precision Cast Parts (PCP) with the deal being announced in mid 2015 and closing in Jan 2016.
Unless BRK spent a significant portion of capital doing share buybacks in 4Q2018 and in first 2 months of 2019 to the order of $20B+ it would be very disappointing performance by BRK management. The operating companies continue to operate reasonably well. Buffett should give up the Chairman role at Berkshire so that board of directors can assess and select a new CEO for the next generation to come. Large companies like Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Facebook (FB) who have market caps comparable to BRK or larger have been able to continue to invest and grow value. These companies have less number of business markets and industries while BRK has multiple avenues to deploy capital and grow value due to the 80+ subsidiaries and investment mandate to invest in any industry and any geography. BRK has also avenues to deploy cash internationally to buy entire businesses which they have failed to do.
BRK year end results are due 22 Feb 2019 and based on the results and capital allocation performance it may be time to turn to new leadership.
Tracking Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio - Q4 2018 Update
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