No. of Recommendations: 12
Normalize Berkshire’s book value to $100, and the structure becomes clear: roughly $50 sits in cash and short-term T-bills, while another $40+ consists of MTM equities, all while the market prices the company at $145.
There's a math trap in there, so watch out.
If you keep on going and list the various parts of the company as a percentage of book, you end up with far more than 100%, because the firm has liabilities too.
If you're trying to think of "how much of the company is which asset", it's far more meaningful to look at the various categories of assets as a percentages of total assets, not as percentages of current book. (or market value)
Jim
