and perhaps most importantly

4) The CEO of Berkshire recently stood there and told us: BRK is trading a bit below its IV right now.

To me, the biggest risk is that Greg is behaving in a way that Warren wouldn't really love, but that Warren is being a good ex-CEO and giving Greg as much leash as he may need to either do what he needs to do or to hang himself.

I don't see any contradiction between what Buffett did and what Abel is now doing. Say, for instance, that Buffett thought that intrinsic value was at 2.0x book. AND he has always said he would repurchase stocks when the price is "meaningfully below" his estimate of intrinsic value, so he has stopped repurchasing at about 1.4x book. Now Abel comes along and may have exactly the same 2.0 number for intrinsic value, but as the cash builds wiithout meaningful cash deployment opportunities, he is willing to go a little closer, say 1.5-1.6x book, still "meaningfully below" 2.0, but not quite as much of a cushion.

Buffett might have eventually come to the same decision, or he might have come to that decision but decided to let Abel make the call. It doesn't really seem like a contradiction.

DTB