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Berkshire Hathaway: It’s Over
Porter's Journal Issue #21, Volume #2

Warren Buffett’s Biggest Investment Mistakes
This is Porter’s Daily Journal, a free e-letter from Porter & Co. that provides unfiltered insights on markets, the economy, and life to help readers become better investors. It includes weekday editions and two weekend editions… and is free to all subscribers.
Shocking analysis: Why Berkshire Hathaway should be broken up (Hint: Buying windmills is a bad idea)… Porter reviews Buffett’s annual letter live tomorrow @ 3 pm (for Partners only)… The world is selling U.S. Treasuries for gold… |
Table of Contents
Editor’s note: I’ve learned a lot about Berkshire Hathaway from Whitney Tilson, who is probably the most famous “Buffett-watcher” on Wall Street. Tilson has been to every Berkshire annual meeting for the last 25 years and, you should know, he doesn’t agree with my analysis below. But we do agree that major changes are needed in New York City, where I am a part-time resident (Hudson Yards) and where Tilson is running for mayor. If you are a resident of New York City, I’d like to invite you to sit down with me and Tilson on March 3. I’ll pay for dinner – but we need you to make a donation to Tilson’s campaign. Please do so here, so that we can enjoy a safe and sane city again.
For the last 60 years, investors have enjoyed a “free ride.”
The only thing you needed to know about investing to beat the market by a wide margin was the name “Warren Buffett.”
Warren’s character and his extraordinary intellect led to the greatest economic engine since Standard Oil: an economic powerhouse virtually without peer in the entire history of capitalism. But, much like father time, there is no way to outrun the inevitable impact of trying to compound enormous amounts of capital.
Buffett has long warned that the growing size of Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK) portfolio must, inevitably, begin to negatively impact its returns on invested capital. And that’s certainly occurring – though for reasons that are not obvious.