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

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz proposes the primary economic priorities in lieu of neoliberalism.

Fiona Sydney

2019-06-29 17:30:00 Saturday ET

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz proposes the primary economic priorities in lieu of neoliberalism.

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz proposes the primary economic priorities in lieu of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism includes lower taxation, deregulation, socia

+See More

U.S. judiciary subcommittee delves into the market dominance of online platforms in terms of the antitrust, commercial, and administrative law in America.

Daphne Basel

2021-11-22 11:29:00 Monday ET

U.S. judiciary subcommittee delves into the market dominance of online platforms in terms of the antitrust, commercial, and administrative law in America.

U.S. judiciary subcommittee delves into the market dominance of online platforms in terms of the antitrust, commercial, and administrative law in America.

+See More

Dodd-Frank rollback raises the asset threshold for systemic financial institutions from $50 billion to $250 billion.

Peter Prince

2018-05-21 07:39:00 Monday ET

Dodd-Frank rollback raises the asset threshold for systemic financial institutions from $50 billion to $250 billion.

Dodd-Frank rollback raises the asset threshold for systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) from $50 billion to $250 billion. This legislative

+See More

Global climate change can cause an adverse impact on long-term real GDP economic growth.

Dan Rochefort

2019-10-27 17:37:00 Sunday ET

Global climate change can cause an adverse impact on long-term real GDP economic growth.

International climate change can cause an adverse impact on long-term real GDP economic growth. USC climate change economist Hashem Pesaran and his co-autho

+See More

Dr Chip Espinoza recommends 9 new core competences for better managing millennials in the modern workplace.

Rose Prince

2025-08-02 13:31:00 Saturday ET

Dr Chip Espinoza recommends 9 new core competences for better managing millennials in the modern workplace.

Chip Espinoza, Mick Ukleja, and Craig Rusch shine fresh light on the core competences for managing millennials as part of the new modern workforce in recent

+See More

From crony capitalism to state capitalism, what economic policy lessons can we learn from Putin's reign in Russia?

Jonah Whanau

2018-03-13 07:34:00 Tuesday ET

From crony capitalism to state capitalism, what economic policy lessons can we learn from Putin's reign in Russia?

From crony capitalism to state capitalism, what economic policy lessons can we learn from President Putin's current reign in Russia? In the 15 years of

+See More