Previously, we read reports that the basic caliber was $334.2 billion in cash, and after adjusting with $318 billion, there was a space of more than $16.2 billion, mainly because of what reason?
Hi Angel - That's a great question. There are two adjustments that I make to the $334.2 billion cash number.
(1) There's a $12.8 billion payable for purchase of U.S. Treasury Bills that should be subtracted. From my understanding, this payable occurs when Berkshire purchases T-Bills on the final day of the quarter and the payment hasn't settled yet. So it will be going out the door in the first day or so of the new quarter and shouldn't be considered as part of Berkshire's cash pile.
(2) When Buffett talks about the cash at the annual meetings (and sometimes puts up a slide to show the total), he only includes the Cash & Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments from the "Insurance and Other" section of the balance sheet. Since Buffett does not include the Cash & Cash Equivalents from the "Railroads, Utilities, and Other" section, I don't either.
When you take out the Payable for U.S. Treasury Bills and the Cash from Railroad, Utilities, and Other -- you get $318.0 billion. (This is also the number that is used on page K-55 of the annual report.)
GUARD sells commercial insurance to small-to-medium sized businesses. Back in November, A.M. Best lowered its outlook for some members of this group to negative from stable because of a "sharp deterioration" in underwriting results that began in 2023 but got worse in the first nine months of 2024. As a result, GUARD brought in almost an entirely new senior leadership team and made changes to what lines of insurance it would write. It also received a significant capital infusion from National Indemnity in Q2 2024.
Previously, we read reports that the basic caliber was $334.2 billion in cash, and after adjusting with $318 billion, there was a space of more than $16.2 billion, mainly because of what reason?
Hi Angel - That's a great question. There are two adjustments that I make to the $334.2 billion cash number.
(1) There's a $12.8 billion payable for purchase of U.S. Treasury Bills that should be subtracted. From my understanding, this payable occurs when Berkshire purchases T-Bills on the final day of the quarter and the payment hasn't settled yet. So it will be going out the door in the first day or so of the new quarter and shouldn't be considered as part of Berkshire's cash pile.
(2) When Buffett talks about the cash at the annual meetings (and sometimes puts up a slide to show the total), he only includes the Cash & Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments from the "Insurance and Other" section of the balance sheet. Since Buffett does not include the Cash & Cash Equivalents from the "Railroads, Utilities, and Other" section, I don't either.
When you take out the Payable for U.S. Treasury Bills and the Cash from Railroad, Utilities, and Other -- you get $318.0 billion. (This is also the number that is used on page K-55 of the annual report.)
In the BH Primary Group, what is GUARD?
GUARD sells commercial insurance to small-to-medium sized businesses. Back in November, A.M. Best lowered its outlook for some members of this group to negative from stable because of a "sharp deterioration" in underwriting results that began in 2023 but got worse in the first nine months of 2024. As a result, GUARD brought in almost an entirely new senior leadership team and made changes to what lines of insurance it would write. It also received a significant capital infusion from National Indemnity in Q2 2024.