quote:
Cheap money in Japan gives Buffett a margin of safety and makes the math look even better. US individuals don’t have this option, but Berkshire has boosted its yen borrowings at fixed rates. Buffett says he doesn’t have a view on foreign exchange, although at the end of 2024, Berkshire had $850 million of after-tax gains from the dollar’s strength. The Bank of Japan’s policy rate of 0.5% is among the world’s lowest. In October, Berkshire sold $1.9 billion of yen-denominated bonds. In April, it raised $628 million of yen bonds as the trade war with the US escalated, even as other multinationals withdrew their yen offerings.

“We like the current math of our yen-balanced strategy,” wrote Buffett in the annual letter. “The annual dividend income expected from the Japanese investments in 2025 will total about $812 million and the interest cost of our yen-denominated debt will be about $135 million.”

quote:
Where others saw complexity in the hundreds of individual businesses owned by the companies and their cross shareholdings, Buffett saw value in ITOCHU ITOCY, Marubeni MARUY, Mitsubishi MSBHF, Mitsui MTSFY, and Sumitomo SSUMY. “We simply looked at their financial records and were amazed at the low prices of their stocks,” he recounted in his 2025 letter to Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B shareholders. The five “very successfully operate in a manner somewhat similar to Berkshire itself.” The first investments were made in July 2019, and they seem destined to continue for years.

Moringstar

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Posted by IMSA_Fan

Member since Jul 2024

616 posts

Posted on 5/1/25 at 7:02 am to bigjoe1

I think Warren Buffet is the smartest all-round person over the last 50 years. It’s baffling how good he is at putting all of the complex pieces together when he makes investment decisions

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Posted by bigjoe1

Member since Jan 2024

1662 posts

Posted on 5/1/25 at 7:15 am to IMSA_Fan

I've thought about that as well.
In the 90's Andrew Kilpatrick wrote a biography of Buffet titles, "of Permanent Value" It's a good read.
The man is incredibly patient. It's meets his investment criteria or it doesn't No compromises.

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Posted by LSUA 75

Colfax,La.

Member since Jan 2019

4806 posts

Posted on 5/1/25 at 11:30 pm to bigjoe1

Buffett is a-hole,gives a lot of money to Democrats.He tries to hide it by giving it through foundations so his name is not attached to donations.The reason Biden shut down construction of Keystone pipeline not because of environment as they claimed,it was so the crude could be transported by Burlington Northern railroad which he is sole owner.Also owns Union tank car which manufactures tank cars in which the crude is hauled.

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Posted by bigjoe1

Member since Jan 2024

1662 posts

Posted on 5/2/25 at 6:54 am to bigjoe1

quote:
In addition to its cash and publicly traded equity holdings, the company runs a wide range of operating businesses. These include extensive insurance operations, which account for close to half of operating earnings, as well as other lines of business, including manufacturing, energy/utilities, and railroads. Although Morningstar strategist Greggory Warren believes it will be increasingly difficult for Berkshire to generate outsize returns because of its size and growing capital base, it has historically excelled at producing returns above its cost of capital. And while some of Berkshire’s business lines would be vulnerable to an economic downturn, the diversified nature of its business operations has generally been a positive.

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