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The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
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Author: mungofitch 🐝🐝🐝 GOLD
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Number: of 21943 
Subject: Re: In progress observations
Date: 05/05/26 12:37 PM
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No. of Recommendations: 36
There still seems to be a level of comfort in the shareholder group that ballooning cash reserves is a not a problem that needs to be solved and one must have "faith" and not ask the question.
...
That group is shrinking --- as you can see perfectly here. The voices "Do something with it!" become more and louder...


On the "swing ya bum" line of thought, which arises from time to time:

One thing to bear in mind is that this is not a case of management being remiss, just sitting on their butts "letting" the cash pile up, foregoing reasonable opportunities because of out-of-date investment thinking or whatever. Rather, this has been a very purposeful move, a conscious restructuring of the portfolio over the last 5-6 quarters.

The cash pile is bigger than it has been, but so is the company. So it makes sense to assess it in relation to the size of the firm.

Consider: as recently as end 2024, cash as a percent of total assets was actually below the median level of that same metric over the prior 12 year ends. The subsequent rise beyond that "normal" level is very big, but it's all recent, and in effect all due to stock sales. We might all be in the dark on our guesses of the exact reason(s) for that move--general dislike of valuations, falling fondness for some existing positions, sidestepping taxes on unrealized gains, being ever more prepared for disaster, positioning for a possible buyout of some crazy whale--but it was an active and purposeful move. Management didn't "let" it happen, they did it.

Jim

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This community has written 21,448 posts about Berkshire Hathaway. The article-length ones it recommended most:
BRK: Why Not XOM? · 62 recs · 2024
Second quarter comments · 60 recs · 2023
Berkshire's Profit Contributors · 57 recs · 2023
Summary of 2Q 2026 · 54 recs · 2026
3Q Summary · 53 recs · 2024
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