Fun, Now.
“With $116 billion cash, Buffett says Berkshire needs ‘huge’ deals” —Reuters, February 24, 2018
There are 230 countries in the worldwhose GDP is less that $116 billion. You can see the list of countries ranked by GDP, here.
Warren can buy one, or a few.
Why Not?
Isn’t it the dream of all (other) tycoons to be the masters of their own {small} universe?
Wouldn’t it be fun! Buy a country, declare yourself the owner, the ruler, of some small nation, or a whole bunch of them. Then get yourself invited to the United Nations and pontificate on the state of the world.
Meanwhile, you have control of a country, its military, its passports, its currency, its secret police, its embassies worldwide. What better way to consolidate your empire!
Not enough?
Don’t forget, the $116 billion in Berkshire’s pocket is just their current excess cash. Its holdings generated $32.55 billion per quarter as of December 2017. And its profit is now “just” $3.34 billion per quarter.
With that kind of cash rolling in, Buffett can buy another small country every quarter. Whahaha, what fun it would be!
However
It is Berkshire Hathaway that has all that cash, not just Warren. Just think, if Berkshire did the buying, shareholders in Berkshire would be part owners in many small countries. Maybe if you hold enough shares you can get yourself a no-show job as chief of police in some backwater town. The opportunities are endless.
Not for him
But I don’t really think Warren is up for that kind of shenanigans. Others might be.
Reality, Later
As of this writing, Buffett is 87 and Charles Munger is 94. They have a succession plan in place, so Berkshire will not be leaderless after Buffett and Munger. It’s fun to speculate, so let’s have fun. and look at the possibilities.
Buffett himself has said that he prefers to buyback stock, so it should not be surprising when that happens even after he leaves the scene.
It has been thought that sooner or later (after Buffett and Munger are gone) activists may push to break up Berkshire Hathaway. (For example see this post at A Wealth of Common Sense.)
Buffett is famously opposed to paying dividends. However, he made it clear that he would not oppose his successors changing that policy. My personal opinion is that even before any activists get traction, Berkshire may initiate paying dividends.
What do you think? See Contact page to send a comment.
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