Warren Buffett says Berkshire could buy back $ 100 billion of his shares over time



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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. of Warren Buffett bought back about $ 1.3 billion of its own stock last year, but the billionaire investor said in a new interview that this figure could reach $ 100 billion over time.

In a broad interview published Thursday by the Financial Times, Berkshire's chairman of the board said the company would buy back its shares as long as they were valued at less than their real value. "It comes down, according to him, to buy a partner at an attractive price", as the FT says.

Buffett does not like the prospect of a day – long action on Berkshire at a fair price, while shares of other companies seem expensive. "It's my nightmare," he told the FT.

Buffett gave no schedule or indicated imminent changes in the interview, but acknowledged that the company could buy back up to $ 100 billion of its stock over time.

Last year, Berkshire approved a plan to buy back shares whenever Buffett or Vice President Charlie Munger would deem it useful. Berkshire apparently did not buy back any of its shares during the first part of 2019 and, in Buffett's 15-page annual letter to shareholders in February, he did not talk much about redemptions, to his own shares "over time, and that redemptions will depress the book value of the stock, what he said want to erase the intrinsic value of the company.

In his letter, Buffett said Berkshire had about $ 130 billion in cash and short-term investments. The conglomerate based in Omaha, Nebraska, has a market capitalization of about $ 522 billion.

Elsewhere in the Financial Times interview, Buffett brushed off questions about his possible successor, and said he was not considering resigning any time soon.

"I take vacations every day. If I wanted to go somewhere else, I would like to go there, "he said. "I'm having more fun here than I think of all the 88-year-old players in the world."

Class A Shares of Berkshire

BRK.A, + 0.79%

are up 4% since the beginning of the year and 8% compared to the previous year, compared to the 500

SPX, -0.04%

gains of 17% and 11%, respectively, over these durations.

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