Posted on 03/04/2006 7:16:34 AM PST by Liz
Warren Buffett, the second-richest man in America, is $1.8 billion poorer this year due to bad bets - also losing billions for his loyal following......considered by some as the world's greatest investor, has suffered an embarrassing 2.36 percent loss in returns on his huge Berkshire Hathaway empire in the past year.
The pricey shares skidded from their peak last December of $91,200 apiece to $87,490 yesterday.....a drop of nearly $4.7 billion in just three months for his shareholders.
Berkshire Hathaway - built largely on insurance businesses and blue chip stocks - got hurt from insurance losses and bad bets on the dollar......also lost about $926 million in the first half of last year betting the dollar would drop, but it rose 10 percent against other currencies.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
ping
-ccm
Buffett is a leftist greed head Democrat always betting against America. Think Soros without the accent.
Something's misleading here. Berkshire's performance in 2005 was 6.4% vs. 4.9 for the S&P according to the statement.
BH is not Warren Buffett. Buffett has investments outside of BH, of which he got hammered.
What happened, insider info ran out?
Not a good idea to bet against the ole US of A.
THe price performance all depends on the exact dates you use for your comparison. Berkshire performance was essentially flat throughout '05, with some ups and downs, so if you pick the one-year period ending yesterday, its performance looks much worse than if you look at calendar '05.
The stock symbols is BRKA; look it up at e.g. "http://www.Bigcharts.com"
I feel like such a shrimp, I play in the under $100 stocks.
Yawnnnnn. Hack job reporting. What about the billions and billions he's made? I take that loss in a heart beat if I could have 1/2 the gains.
Warren Buffett's vote of no confidence in U.S. fiscal policies is up to $20 billion.
The dollar has fallen savagely against the euro for the past three years, and the trade deficit is running $55 billion a month. Is the currency rout over? Can the trade deficit be fixed with a rise in interest rates or an upward revaluation of the Chinese currency? Warren Buffett, the world's most visible dollar bear, says the answer to both these questions is no. His bet against the dollar, reported at $12 billion in his last annual report (for Dec. 31, 2003), has gotten all the bigger. Now his Berkshire Hathaway has a $20 billion bet in favor of the euro, the pound and six other foreign currencies.
Buffett has for a long time been lecturing fellow Americans about their bad habit of borrowing from abroad to live well today. He made a big stink about his currency trades in his March 2004 letter to shareholders. FORBES phoned him recently for an update, hoping for the news that the Scold of Omaha had softened his views on the decline of the dollar. What we got was more doom and gloom, more than we have ever heard from the man. In other words, he is not about to cover his short position on the dollar.
True. Also, go to the BH website and read the annual reports. There are several years worth posted. The reports are clearly written and understandable. The best financial education you can get for free.
Buy on the dips!
HAHAHAHAHA> Did we not say right here that this was going to happen to the great man.
The long dollar trade of April or May 2005 was one of the easiest I have seen in a long time. The dollar index (DXC) rose above its 200 moving average for the first time in over a year IIRC. I (kick,kick,kick) didn't take it because it happened on a Friday afternoon and I didn't want the currency exposure over the weekend. Well it never looked back. At least I wasn't short like old Warren. He may be smart at buying companies but being short the dollar under such circumstances wasn't brainy stuff.
This is from CBS, it hard to know who to believe, even on something as straight forward as this.
"Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Saturday in his annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that his holding company's net worth grew by $5.6 billion in 2005, which he dubbed "a decent year."
That increased class A and B per-share book value 6.4 percent, beating the S&P gain of 4.9 percent for the year."
I think we need a couple other sources, or a press release from Buffet that hasn't gone through any newsroom that would alter it.
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