Berkshire Hathaway: The Incomparable Compounder - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 63]

Berkshire is what it is due to its Insurance operation (float).

Until 1998 BH run a levered operation by having more invested assets in the insurance operation than BH itself had in book value.

Throughout the 70s, they were able to make a series of investments that went particularly well (Gillet, Washington Post…).

Also, their discipline of walking away from insurance business when it was badly priced was key to their success.

The lessons to take from Buffet’s career, letters, etc. is not what criteria do I use to analyze stuff to buy, rather, where to get the capital to buy that stuff with. Don’t blow yourself up.

At some point in the 90s Coca Cola was 40% of BH’s portfolio, and they made a 13x on the investment during the next decade