Warren Buffett dumped shares, constructed a $300 billion money pile, and up to date his loss of life plan in 2024. Listed here are his 6 highlights.

They spent lower than $3 billion on buybacks between January and September final 12 months, with none within the third quarter, after spending almost $70 billion on repurchases over the earlier 4 years (nearly $52 billion of that was in 2020 and 2021.)

Ramping up inventory gross sales and curbing buybacks helped to just about double Berkshire’s money pile in 9 months from $168 billion to a report $325 billion (or $310 billion after subtracting nearly $15 billion of payables for Treasury invoice purchases within the third quarter).

Berkshire’s money pile now exceeds the whole worth of the corporate simply over a decade in the past, and accounted for a hefty 27% of its $1.15 trillion of property on the finish of September.

Buffett and his colleagues have mentioned they’re stacking money as a result of they’re struggling to seek out bargains with valuations at historic highs, and so they do not thoughts maintaining cash out of an ebullient inventory market.

4. Promoting sacred cows

Buffett and his funding managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, made a number of hanging adjustments to Berkshire’s inventory portfolio final 12 months.

They pared Apple, their largest place, by 67% in 9 months, lowering its worth from $174 billion to beneath $70 billion. The sharp discount shocked many as Buffett had showered reward on the iPhone maker for years, hailing it as “most likely one of the best enterprise I do know on this planet” and one in every of Berkshire’s “4 giants.”

Buffett and his deputies additionally lower Financial institution of America, their no. 2 place, by about 26% between mid-July and mid-October, accumulating greater than $10 billion of proceeds. The gross sales lowered their stake from above 13% to beneath 10%, releasing them from having to reveal adjustments to the holding inside a pair days. Their stake solely dropped in worth from $35 billion to $32 billion between January and September as a result of the financial institution’s inventory worth rose by round a fifth throughout that interval.

Berkshire additionally revealed a near-$7 billion stake in insurer Chubb in its first-quarter portfolio replace, trimmed holdings resembling Capital One within the second quarter, and purchased almost 4% of Domino’s Pizza within the third quarter whereas slicing a number of smaller holdings.

5. Giving billions

Buffett donated Berkshire shares price $5.3 billion to the Invoice & Melinda Gates Basis and 4 of his household’s foundations in June.

He mentioned these presents meant he’d now given $55 billion to the quintet over the earlier 18 years, based mostly on how a lot the Berkshire shares had been price on the time of giving.

Buffett divvied up an additional $1.2 billion inventory donation among the many 4 household foundations in late November, persevering with a Thanksgiving custom he began in 2022.

The most recent donations diminished his variety of A shares to a bit greater than 206,000, which means he is given away nearly 57% of his shares since pledging 99% of them to good causes in 2006.

6. Property planning

Buffett unexpectedly printed a near-1,500 phrase letter to shareholders alongside the information of his Thanksgiving present.

In it, he reiterated his want to cross alongside his unimaginable wealth to “others who got a really quick straw at delivery.”

Buffett revealed earlier within the 12 months that he deliberate to place nearly his total fortune in a belief, and activity his three kids with distributing it to worthy causes after he dies. However in his mini letter in November, he acknowledged that his youngsters are of their late 60s and early 70s and would possibly die earlier than they’ll fulfill his imaginative and prescient.

The investor mentioned that danger had led him to designate three potential successor trustees to be “on the waitlist” simply in case.

Buffett additionally took inventory of the astounding scale of wealth in America, the place greater than a dozen individuals together with him are personally price in extra of $100 billion.

“It has been mind-blowing — past the imaginations of Ford, Carnegie, Morgan and even Rockefeller,” he wrote. “Billions turned the brand new thousands and thousands.”

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