CNBC news anchor Becky Quick interviews Warren Buffett in early-2019.

James Campbell

2019-04-07 13:39:00 Sun ET

CNBC news anchor Becky Quick interviews Warren Buffett in early-2019. Buffett explains the fact that book value fluctuations are a metric that has lost relevance for Berkshire Hathaway over time. At least 3 circumstances lead to this outcome. First, Berkshire has gradually morphed from a company whose assets concentrate in marketable stocks into a unique public corporation whose major value resides in operating businesses. From a fundamental viewpoint, equity stakes represent key parts of corporate stock ownership and control as investors favor liquidity over managerial rent protection.

Second, the new U.S. accounting rules require the current collection of operating companies to be part of book value at a dollar sum far below their current market value. This gross undervaluation may mislead the typical retail investor.

Third, it is likely for Berkshire to reconsider significant share repurchases that take place at share prices above book value (but below the Buffett estimate of intrinsic value). Each share buyback boosts intrinsic value and also constrains the potential uptick of book value.

This combination of circumstances causes the book-value scorecard to become out of touch with economic reality. Buffett hence focuses on the Berkshire market capitalization, and this alternative better reflects business performance in practice.

 


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

Spotify considers directly selling its shares to the retail public with no underwriter involvement.

Rose Prince

2018-01-08 10:37:00 Monday ET

Spotify considers directly selling its shares to the retail public with no underwriter involvement.

Spotify considers directly selling its shares to the retail public with no underwriter involvement. The music-streaming company plans a direct list on NYSE

+See More

Pinterest files a $12 billion IPO due in mid-2019.

Laura Hermes

2019-03-09 12:43:00 Saturday ET

Pinterest files a $12 billion IPO due in mid-2019.

Pinterest files a $12 billion IPO due in mid-2019. This tech unicorn allows users to pin-and-browse images through its social media app and website. Pintere

+See More

America faces income inequality, political polarization, and dysfunctional governance.

Rose Prince

2018-05-17 07:41:00 Thursday ET

America faces income inequality, political polarization, and dysfunctional governance.

Has America become a democratic free land of crumbling infrastructure, galloping income inequality, bitter political polarization, and dysfunctional governa

+See More

Is higher stock market concentration good or bad for Corporate America?

Laura Hermes

2025-03-03 04:11:06 Monday ET

Is higher stock market concentration good or bad for Corporate America?

Is higher stock market concentration good or bad for Corporate America? In recent years, S&P 500 stock market returns exhibit spectacular concentrati

+See More

Blue-ocean strategists shift focus from current competitors to alternative non-customers with new market space.

Apple Boston

2020-05-21 11:30:00 Thursday ET

Blue-ocean strategists shift focus from current competitors to alternative non-customers with new market space.

Most blue-ocean strategists shift fundamental focus from current competitors to alternative non-customers with new market space. W. Chan Kim and Renee Ma

+See More

Better corporate governance through worldwide convergence toward Berle-Means stock ownership dispersion

Fiona Sydney

2023-12-05 09:25:00 Tuesday ET

Better corporate governance through worldwide convergence toward Berle-Means stock ownership dispersion

Better corporate ownership governance through worldwide convergence toward Berle-Means stock ownership dispersion   Abstract We design a model

+See More