Monday, March 2, 2015

"Annotating the Oracle: Experts Weigh In on Berkshire’s Annual Letter"

Two quick points:
1) I won't be weighing in, it's just not as much fun as it was 25 years ago when you could still elicit a "Warren who?"
2) This is a pretty slick way to attract what we used to call, back in the day, "sticky eyeballs".

From MoneyBeat:
This year’s letter from Warren Buffett to the shareholders of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has been 50 years in the making. The famed “Oracle of Omaha” looked back over the decades to reflect on Berkshire’s success–and peered into his crystal ball to see what lies ahead.

One thing about the letter was clear above all: It wasn’t written solely for Berkshire’s current shareholders. Mr. Buffett was writing for Berkshire’s future leaders, giving a roadmap of how the massive conglomerate got here, and providing signposts to help get where it’s headed next. It’s a document he expects will be part of the conversation about the company for decades to come.

The Wall Street Journal brought together a collection of three dozen Buffettologists, Berkshire shareholders, value investors and academics to help readers better understand the 25,000 word manuscript, which also includes a terse–but newsworthy–four-and-a-half pages from Berkshire’s vice chairman, Charlie Munger.
You can see the notations by clicking on the portions of the text marked in yellow in the window below. For those settling in to read the entire document, click the box in the lower left corner of the window below for a full-screen view and more navigation options....MORE