Great summary! My guess is that buybacks will resume this quarter, if they haven’t already since the July 21 share count in the 10-Q. One thing to watch is whether the A shares begin trading at a modest premium to 1500 Bs. In recent quarters, there has been virtually no premium. If Buffett starts repurchasing shares, he will prefer As even if his buying pushes them up to small premium over 1500x B.
Appreciate the breakdown. Well said, “After all, with so many subsidiaries in so many different industries, there’s always something to wring your hands over. It’s simply a numbers game — everything can’t be going well everywhere all the time.”
I am confused about how to calculate cash reserves. If we only look at the cash and treasury bonds of the insurance business and the financial report tables, it should be 342 billion at the end of March and 339.8 at the end of June.
Hi Angel - In Q1, there was a $14.38 billion “Payable for Purchases of U.S. Treasury Bills” that has to be subtracted from the $342 billion cash number — leaving $328 billion. When Berkshire buys T-Bills on the last day of the quarter, this liability pops up on the balance sheet because the purchase hasn’t settled yet and the cash hasn’t been paid out for the T-Bills. This $328 billion is what Berkshire itself lists as its cash total on page 44 of the first quarter 10-Q.
Uh-huh, you helped me with the “Payable for Purchases of U.S. Treasury Bills”, but I couldn't find the corresponding account in which table to look at? Is there no such item for the second quarter? Thank you for your patience.
On page 3 of the 10-Q, it lists the "Payable for Purchases of U.S. Treasury Bills" on the liabilities portion of the balance sheet as zero in the second quarter. At year end, for example, that liability was $12.8 billion. Since Berkshire bought that much T-Bills on the last day of 2024, that $12.8 billion of T-Bills was already reflected in the Short-term Investments part of the balance sheet, but it hadn't yet been subtracted from cash. The report doesn't spell this out, but that's my understanding at least after reading about this from others who have followed Berkshire for a long time. I hope that helps!
Thanks Tony! Buying Pilot in stages definitely hurt since the later chunks were much more expensive than the first. Chris Bloomstran said on X this weekend that he wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a write down on Pilot coming eventually.
Great summary! My guess is that buybacks will resume this quarter, if they haven’t already since the July 21 share count in the 10-Q. One thing to watch is whether the A shares begin trading at a modest premium to 1500 Bs. In recent quarters, there has been virtually no premium. If Buffett starts repurchasing shares, he will prefer As even if his buying pushes them up to small premium over 1500x B.
Thanks! Buybacks might have started today, haha.
Well done! Best analysis of all I've read since Saturday. Thank you!
Thanks Mark!
A fine, sensible analysis! Thanks, Kevin!
Thanks Arthur! I really appreciate it!
I agree w/Rational Walk- Great Summary!
Thanks! Much appreciated!
Appreciate the breakdown. Well said, “After all, with so many subsidiaries in so many different industries, there’s always something to wring your hands over. It’s simply a numbers game — everything can’t be going well everywhere all the time.”
Thanks Marc! Much appreciated :)
Yet another great piece! Can’t wait for the 13Fs to come out soon…
I am confused about how to calculate cash reserves. If we only look at the cash and treasury bonds of the insurance business and the financial report tables, it should be 342 billion at the end of March and 339.8 at the end of June.
Hi Angel - In Q1, there was a $14.38 billion “Payable for Purchases of U.S. Treasury Bills” that has to be subtracted from the $342 billion cash number — leaving $328 billion. When Berkshire buys T-Bills on the last day of the quarter, this liability pops up on the balance sheet because the purchase hasn’t settled yet and the cash hasn’t been paid out for the T-Bills. This $328 billion is what Berkshire itself lists as its cash total on page 44 of the first quarter 10-Q.
Uh-huh, you helped me with the “Payable for Purchases of U.S. Treasury Bills”, but I couldn't find the corresponding account in which table to look at? Is there no such item for the second quarter? Thank you for your patience.
On page 3 of the 10-Q, it lists the "Payable for Purchases of U.S. Treasury Bills" on the liabilities portion of the balance sheet as zero in the second quarter. At year end, for example, that liability was $12.8 billion. Since Berkshire bought that much T-Bills on the last day of 2024, that $12.8 billion of T-Bills was already reflected in the Short-term Investments part of the balance sheet, but it hadn't yet been subtracted from cash. The report doesn't spell this out, but that's my understanding at least after reading about this from others who have followed Berkshire for a long time. I hope that helps!
get！Thanks for doing such a good analysis
Well done. Did Berkshire pay too much Pilot?
Thanks Tony! Buying Pilot in stages definitely hurt since the later chunks were much more expensive than the first. Chris Bloomstran said on X this weekend that he wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a write down on Pilot coming eventually.
Thank you.
It was odd short term cash <3 months was up $60 billion. Bought some CSX in case his finger is on the elephant gun.