INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Authors: JordanNEW DELHI: The much-awaited speech from iconic investor Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway's upcoming annual shareholder
meeting on Saturday is keeping investors wide-eyed
Just how much is at stake And how big is his empire Let's dive in
Known as Oracle of Omaha, Buffett is third-richest on this planet with $83 billion in personal wealth, according to Bloomberg Billionaire
This is more than double India's richest man Mukesh Ambani's net worth.
Buffett's diversified company Berkshire Hathaway, which deals in
insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, finance, manufacturing and retailing, is sitting on a whopping
$116 billion in cash and short-term US treasury bills, at the last count
He has 17.2 per cent ownership stake in the New York Stock Exchange listed firm as per a Reuters report.
The sheer value and size of
Berkshire's cash and investments is huge
To get a sense, let's see where it stands in the Indian context.
85% of banking bad loansBerkshire's cash muscle is jaw-dropping
At a rupee-dollar exchange rate of 66, its $116 billion of cash pile amounts to Rs 7,65,600 crore
The cash level equals 85 per cent of total gross non-performing assets of Rs 8,96,891 crore of 40 listed domestic banks, latest quarterly
Berkshire's cash is in fact 9.67 times cash and cash equivalents of $12 billion, or Rs 78,063 crore, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries
Tops BSE200 firmsThe deep pocket dwarfs cash and cash equivalents and current investments of all BSE 200 companies (excluding banks and
financial institutions) taken together, according to Capitaline
A total of 154 BSE 200 companies had total cash amounting to Rs 7,32,132 crore, financial disclosures for the latest financial year suggest
Profit exceeds Sensex bottom lineBerkshire reported $44.94 billion net profit for 2017
At exchange rate of 66, this translates into Rs 2,96,604 crore and is higher than Rs 2,55,836 crore consolidated profit of Sensex companies
for full financial year, as per their latest filings
The profit figure for 30 Sensex firms is arrived at by adding FY18 earnings of 14 index companies (available so far) with FY17 earnings for
the rest.
Revenues more than twice of Tata Group'sBerkshire's revenue for 2017 stood at $242.13 billion, which roughly stands at Rs 16 lakh
crore at the current exchange rate
This is 2.4 times higher than Tata Group's FY17 revenue of $100 billion, or Rs 6.73 lakh crore
5 top bets worth a fourth of BSE smallcapsBerkshire's top 5 common stock investments worked out to $111 billion at 2017-end, which is
roughly Rs 7.33 lakh crore
The list includes Wells Fargo Company ($29.27 billion), Apple ($28.21 billion), Bank of India Corporation ($20.66 billion), Coca Cola
(18.35 billion) and American Express ($15.05 billion)
That's 27 per cent of BSE Smallcap index's total m-cap of Rs 27 lakh crore, with 860-odd constituents.
20 quotes from Oracle of Omaha on
investing, life and success4 May, 2018
When Warren Buffett speaks, the world listens! As Omaha readies to host the much-awaited Berkshire
AGM, we bring you twenty pearls of wisdom from the legendary investor whose each word, each statement becomes the gospel truth for
investors.Focus on quality4 May, 2018“Whether we're talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise, when it is marked
down.”On greed and fear4 May, 2018Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.Investing rules4 May, 2018Rule No
2: Never forget rule No.1Risk comes from ignorance4 May, 2018“Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.”Cash enough to buy India's
most-valued firmBerkshire's idle cash is enough to buy India's most valued firm TCS, which recently hit $100 billion mark -- the only Indian
On Wednesday, TCS market value stood at $106 billion.
Can buy 5% of BSE listed stocksWith $116 billion in cash, Berkshire can buy 5 per cent
of total listed stocks on the BSE
At Rs 7,65,600 crore, Berkshire's cash is equal to 5.08 per cent of market capitalisation of total BSE listed stocks valued roughly at Rs
150 lakh crore.
Nearly a fifth of India's GDPNow, take this
Berkshire's market valuation at $470 billion is nearly 21 per cent of India's GDP
It is bigger than economies such as Thailand, Iran, Austria and Norway and nearly close to that of Belgium
