Figure 4.2 provides excerpts from Warren Buffett’s annual letter to his stockholders. The complete letter is found at Warren Buffett, “Letters 2012,” Berkshire Hathaway Inc., http://www

.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2012ltr.pdf. Answer these questions about the letter:

1. How many people are praised by name?

2. This chapter offers some examples of his colorful style.

What other examples can you find?

Figure 4.2

Transcribed Image Text:

Figure 4.2 Excerpts from Warren Buffett's 2012 Letter to Shareholders BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC. Buffett's letter starts with a summary of To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: In 2012, Berkshire achieved a total gain for its shareholders of $24.1 billion. We used $1.3 billion of that to repurchase our stock, which left us with an increase in net worth of $22.8 billion for the year. The short financial per-share book value of both our Class A and Class B stock increased by 14.4%. Over the last 48 years the past year compounded annually.* Contextualizes good news to make it even more impressive. Supports green initiatives. (that is, since present management took over), book value has grown from $19 to $114,214, a rate of 19.7% A number of good things happened at Berkshire last year, but let's first get the bad news out of the way. When the partnership I ran took control of Berkshire in 1965, I could never have dreamed that a year in which we had a gain of $24.1 billion would be subpar, in terms of the comparison we present on the facing page. Despite tepid U.S. growth and weakening economies throughout much of the world, our "powerhouse five" had aggregate earnings of $10.1 billion, about $600 million more than in 2011. Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, our new investment managers, have proved to be smart, models of integrity, helpful to Berkshire in many ways beyond portfolio management, and a perfect cultural fit. We in the dust as well. If this is the bad news, think how great the good news will be. hit the jackpot with these two. In 2012 each outperformed the S&P 500 by double-digit margins. They left me humility to MidAmerican's electric utilities serve regulated retail customers in ten states. Only one utility holding com- pany serves more states. In addition, we are the leader in renewables: first, from a standing start nine years ago, we now account for 6% of the country's wind generation capacity. Second, when we complete three projects now under construction, we will own about 14% of U.S. solar-generation capacity. * All per-share figures used in this report apply to Berkshire's A shares. Figures for the B shares are 1/1500th of those shown for A. Uses humor (plus tiny type) and underscore his point.