Warren Buffett's Shareholder Letter is Out

Warren Buffett is out with his annual letter where he discuses his holding company Berkshire Hathaway operations and his investment philosophy. This is the 50th consecutive letter.

Between 1964 and 2014, according to his letter, Berkshire stock climbed in value by 1,826,163%.

Of note, Buffett may be the top beneficiary in the world of Federal Reserve money pumping into the bankster the world. Among his top holdings, he controls stocks or options in 5 bankster operations,.

Here's Buffett on venture deals etc. which is why you don't see him involved in the current insanity in Silicon Valley:

Charlie and I frequently get approached about acquisitions that don’t come close to meeting our tests: We’ve found that if you. advertise an interest in buying collies, a lot of people will call hoping to sell you their cocker spaniels. A line from a country song expresses our feeling about new ventures, turnarounds, or auction-like sales: “When the phone don’t ring, you’ll know it’s me.”

And here's Buffett on the infamous Jimmy Ling of yesteryear, which reminds me of a lot of many current SV operators (who don't even have the sales Ling put together!):

Through a lot of corporate razzle-dazzle, Ling had taken LTV from sales of only $36 million in 1965 to number 14 on the Fortune 500 list just two years later. Ling, it should be noted, had never displayed any managerial skills. But Charlie told me long ago to never underestimate the man who overestimates himself. And Ling had no peer in that respect.

The entire Buffett letter is here.

--RW