Buffett discusses Berkshire's cash ambition, its reinsurance business, and his succession plan.

Becky Berkman

2018-02-23 09:35:00 Fri ET

Warren Buffett releases his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders as of February 2018. Buffett discusses Berkshire's core cash ambition, its reinsurance business, the recent increase in corporate net worth, and his succession plan. First, Buffett highlights the importance of *float* for insurance companies like Berkshire Hathaway, i.e. the company collects insurance premiums that have not been paid out as claims. Buffett and Munger can invest the float as these premiums absorb losses gradually throughout the life of each insurance policy. As this reinsurance counterbalances long-tail losses, Berkshire grows its float to extraordinary levels over time.

Second, corporate cash stockpiles surge to $116 billion, so Buffett prefers to keep this cash position for near-term mergers and acquisitions (instead of dividends and share repurchases). However, Buffett considers most recent takeover targets with no sensible purchase prices at the current stage of the real business cycle. Also, Buffett emphasizes the fact that debt-free investors can better take advantage of short-term stock market crashes such as Black Monday in 1987, the Asian financial crisis in 1997, and the global economic recession in 2008.

Berkshire experiences a one-time hefty increase in net worth by $65 billion or 23% due to the Trump tax cuts. The tax credits not only strengthen Berkshire's current fortress balance sheet, but also allow Buffett and Munger to cast a broader net of potential M&A deals.

Third, Buffett declares that Berkshire's next CEO will oversee company operations while the other half of this job will be given to stock-pickers who specialize in asset management. On the latter investment front, the likely successors are Todd Combs and Ted Weschler. The high-skill money managers both have successfully grown their assets under management (AUM) to $25 billion in early-2018.

Under this succession plan, Combs and Weschler will continue to implement the value investment philosophy in the post-Buffett reinsurance business structure.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Capital structure theory and practice

Jonah Whanau

2022-03-15 10:32:00 Tuesday ET

Capital structure theory and practice

Capital structure theory and practice  The genesis of modern capital structure theory traces back to the seminal work of Modigliani and Miller (1958

+See More

China President Xi tries to ease trade tension between America and China in his Boao presidential address.

Monica McNeil

2018-04-02 07:33:00 Monday ET

China President Xi tries to ease trade tension between America and China in his Boao presidential address.

China President Xi JinPing tries to ease trade tension between America and China in his presidential address at the annual Boao forum. In his vulnerable att

+See More

Dr Karl Ulrich explains that many elite universities now provide massive open online courses (MOOCs) for lifelong learners to achieve their medium-term goals for better intellectual focus, immersion, personal growth, and self-improvement.

Charlene Vos

2025-08-09 11:31:00 Saturday ET

Dr Karl Ulrich explains that many elite universities now provide massive open online courses (MOOCs) for lifelong learners to achieve their medium-term goals for better intellectual focus, immersion, personal growth, and self-improvement.

Wharton e-commerce entrepreneurship professor Dr Karl Ulrich explains that many top-notch universities now provide massive open online courses (MOOCs) for m

+See More

These famous quotes of self-made billionaires are inspirational words of wisdom on investment management.

Joseph Corr

2017-06-27 05:40:00 Tuesday ET

These famous quotes of self-made billionaires are inspirational words of wisdom on investment management.

These famous quotes of self-made billionaires are inspirational words of wisdom on financial management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. For financial

+See More

CBS and its special committee of independent directors have decided to sue the Redstone controlling shareholders.

Daisy Harvey

2018-05-09 08:31:00 Wednesday ET

CBS and its special committee of independent directors have decided to sue the Redstone controlling shareholders.

CBS and its special committee of independent directors have decided to sue the Redstone controlling shareholders because these directors might have breached

+See More

A Florida fintech group Fidelity Information Services initiates the largest acquisition of the e-commerce payments processor Worldpay.

Olivia London

2019-04-03 11:35:00 Wednesday ET

A Florida fintech group Fidelity Information Services initiates the largest acquisition of the e-commerce payments processor Worldpay.

A Florida fintech group Fidelity Information Services initiates the largest $43 billion acquisition of the e-commerce payments processor Worldpay. Fidelity

+See More