NET JETS PARENT CO. BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY LOSES 7 *BILLION* TODAY ALONE? per ABC NEWS

[Voice Of Reason]

Surprised I haven't seen a thread for this...
Saw this as a Charlie Gibson news lead-in on ABC news tonight, then got busy and missed the story. Anyone else watch tonight?
The only story I can find for news today is one about concern people are dumping stock like crazy in anticipation of more stock dump as Buffett's impending retirement is more imminent.
Anyone see the ABC story tonight at all? Not looking for speculation, just discussion from those who saw the story.
Thanks

 

[skiandsurf]

Stock was down $7500/share to $135,000. Or 5%.

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/...rrons-markets-equity-cx_af_1217markets22.html

 

[Voice Of Reason]

Thanks Ski...
Has it ever been discussed who will take the reins when Buffett is no longer around? It's scary to think that one idiot could have the potential to take a good thing and run it under after he is gone. How much say has/will Buffett have in his successor? Who makes the ultimate decision?
I've seen so many companies (time and time again as the industry cycles) that have seemed like "lifer" places (even with "infallible" backing) only to be taken down a completely different road by one greedy idiot who thinks he can cut corners and make it even more profitable, then the employeees subsequently pay the price. I know Buffett must have his favorites to take the reins, but where does the decision ultimately lie? I think it is a valid concern for anyone looking at the full spectrum of career possibilities...

 

[Buckeye]

Buffet's successor has been running the company for many years now, he himself is only a figure head. The loss is only a paper loss and like all other "losses" will rebound soon.

 

[Voice Of Reason]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=4007924 <-- Found this (very brief) article on ABC news' own site. Amazing how they made such a huge deal in the lead-in, but don't have much relevant to their own story on their own site. Wish I hit record on the dvr...
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"Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway overvalued: Barron's





Dec 16, 2007

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway Inc , the conglomerate built by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, could be overvalued, Barron's reported on Sunday.
Barron's estimates that Berkshire is worth about $130,000 a share, about 10 percent below the current level.


Because of its high price relative to its book value and earnings, Berkshire shares could be "dead money for at least a year," the investor weekly said.
Barron's said American International Group , Wells Fargo , and American Express may be better values in the financial sector.
Wall Street is waiting for Buffett's next move, and insurance broker Marsh & McLennan might appeal to him, Barron's said.
Berkshire stock closed on Friday at $143,000, up 38 percent from its 12-month low of $103,800 hit on February 27.
(Reporting by Chris Reiter; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Copyright 2007 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway overvalued: Barron's "

 

[gunfyter]

down 7 B but still up 35 B this yr. Sky not falling

 

[Voice Of Reason]

Another article from today touches on the successor topic:

http://www.forbes.com/markets/econo...er-markets-equity-cx_af_ra_1217markets42.html

"Investors Bail On Berkshire Hathaway
Andrew Farrell, 12.17.07, 9:00 PM ET

Berkshire Hathaway
Nobody likes to overpay. On Monday, investors sold Berkshire Hathway stock in droves after Barron's said it was overvalued.
Class A shares of Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRKA - news - people ) fell $6,600, or 4.6%, to $136,400.00, in the wake of a negative article published Sunday in Barron's. Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRKB - news - people ) fell $229.00, or 4.8%, to $4,525.00.
Barron's said there appears to be better values in the financial sector. Even after Monday's decline, Berkshire Hathaway, which owns a number of insurance businesses, had a price-earnings ratio of 15.1. American International Group (nyse: AIG - news - people ) has a price-earnings ration of 9.9. Wells Fargo (nyse: WFC - news - people ) has a price-earnings ratio of 11.5. Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ) has a price-earnings ratio of 9.5.
Investors are paying the premium to benefit from the legendary investing savvy of Warren Buffett. Buffett is Berkshire's chairman and chief executive officer.
Buffett, with a fortune of $52.0 billion, is the world's second-richest person and is famed for his ability to find deals in undervalued securities. Since his purchase of Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, he has turned the textile company into a financial giant with a market capitalization of $209.7 billion.
Buffett, however, might not be at Berkshire Hathaway's reins much longer. Buffet is 77 years old, and his vice chairman and longtime business partner, Charles Munger, is 84. The company hasn't named a successor to Buffett.
Analysts think the company is overvalued. According to Thomson Financial, the median price target of analysts covering the company is $119,000. Shares of Berkshire were trading 13.8% higher than that on Monday."

 

[Geronimo4497]

Nobody apply to NJA for the foreseeable future. Their parents company MIGHT go down, or up, or nowhere. OHHHHH the hugemanatee.

 

[popgoesbubble]

Sounds like Voice Full or Semen has a bitter side to him. What happen did you not get the call for an interview?

 

[gunfyter]

no. Pilot raises are bankrupting the company.

 

[Voice Of Reason]

"Not get the call to the company???"
Seriously, some of you are pieces of work.
7 billion dollars in one day is certainly worthy of discussion in ANY company. While some would like to have only the Kool-Aid version of one's company out there, educated people like to look at EVERYTHING, critically.
Why would anyone be offended that a newsworthy story is discussed in a forum where people are looking to learn ALL aspects of these companies, in real news fashion...not just the egotistical rants of a few individuals in a "flavor of the month" job who don't understand the cyclical nature of the industry, --and how they carry themselves now will affect the perception of those in their pilot group in the future.
I don't remember FLOPS pilots being quite so nauseating when THEY were the highest paid and being treated like kings by Ricci (long before they took over RTA). NetJets guys were begging THEM for job info, and now a vocal few have the audacity to act like West Virginia Lotto trash? Weren't you still owned by Warren Buffet when you had embarrassingly low wages? It all cycles, and today's gloating peacocks may surely find themselves tomorrow's dodobirds.
Think about it, and understand how trashy you sound gloating about your nouveau "riches" while the owners (and other pilots for that matter) laugh about how little it takes to make the little people feel important.
Nice discussion ability....everyone must just be "jealous." :nuts:

 

[RubberDuck]

.......

 

[igneousy2]

"Not get the call to the company???"
Seriously, some of you are pieces of work.
7 billion dollars in one day is certainly worthy of discussion in ANY company. While some would like to have only the Kool-Aid version of one's company out there, educated people like to look at EVERYTHING, critically.
Why would anyone be offended that a newsworthy story is discussed in a forum where people are looking to learn ALL aspects of these companies, in real news fashion...not just the egotistical rants of a few individuals in a "flavor of the month" job who don't understand the cyclical nature of the industry, --and how they carry themselves now will affect the perception of those in their pilot group in the future.
I don't remember FLOPS pilots being quite so nauseating when THEY were the highest paid and being treated like kings by Ricci (long before they took over RTA). NetJets guys were begging THEM for job info, and now a vocal few have the audacity to act like West Virginia Lotto trash? Weren't you still owned by Warren Buffet when you had embarrassingly low wages? It all cycles, and today's gloating peacocks may surely find themselves tomorrow's dodobirds.
Think about it, and understand how trashy you sound gloating about your nouveau "riches" while the owners (and other pilots for that matter) laugh about how little it takes to make the little people feel important.
Nice discussion ability....everyone must just be "jealous." :nuts:

Take it EASY!

What is your question?

I disagree with your whole premise that this is in fact a newsworthy story. If Berk-Hath had in fact LOST 7.0 billion dollars in one day...then yes maybe it would be a front page story.


However...I do not agree that this is newsworthy because Berk-Hath did NOT lose 7.0 billion dollars today...it is just the same old sensationalist media preying on the ignorant. The value of all of the outstanding shares (market value) went down 7.0 billion dollars. A lot of the stockholders (including uncle Warren) lost some money, but that had ZERO impact on the operation of the company... but the "sky-is-falling" media ignores the good...so many people think that the mainstream media is an unbiased...informed source of news when in reality it is not. This article was taken WAY out of context. The thing that upsets me is that the mainstream media either chooses to ignore or does not bother to find out the real story. If you actually go and READ the Barrons article from a "health of the company" point of view you will find that it is actually a positive article.

In fact none of the mainstream media even mentioned the part of the article that said that Berkshire-Hathaway is in the enviable position of being FLUSH with cash to the tune of about 65 BILLION dollars.

To put that into perspective...Berkshire Hathaway could go on the open market and buy AMR(4.0B), CAL(2.3B), DAL(3.9B), UAL(4.0B), SWA(9.4B), NWA(3.7B), USA (1.4B), AS(1.0B) 2 TIMES and still have cash left over. Did I miss anybody?

The article also said that Berk-Hath is rumored to be on the verge of a MEGA deal in which Berk-Hath would pay CASH for one of the distressed financials. I didn't see anything about that in the mainstream media. The articles i've seen also haven't mentioned that Berk-Hath stock is UP over 20% since August of this year AFTER todays drop.

All the article said was that right now there are better deals out there for investors. That's it. It did not say anything even implying that "the sky is falling" at Berk-Hath .

As far as a successor for the Oracle of Omaha, Buffett has repeatedly stated that there is a succesorship plan in place that only he and the board know about. He hasn't said who...but he has said NUMEROUS times that there will be two, one in charge of the stock portfolio, and one in charge of the acquisition side of the business. As far as Warren being a figure head...that is complete balony, he is well known as a hands on CEO when it comes to Berkshire-Hathaway business and is still very much involved in the day-to-day operation of the company. That being said, when it comes to the operation of the subsidiary companies, aka NetJets, he is very hands off - according to him - he buys great companies with great management and leaves them alone.

 

[gutshotdraw]

Reportedly, those two names are in a safe in Omaha to be opened upon his passing.

Uncle Warren once said the toughest part of the job was locating companies worth buying with the RIDICULOUS amounts of cash BH generates. I wouldn't worry too much about the stock price since I doubt any of you out there can afford one share of the A stock....well, maybe except for NJAOwner.

 

[pilotyip]

My ex EAL buddy who bought one share in the 80's for $6000 will be devasted.

 

[Voice Of Reason]

Weren't you still owned by Warren Buffet when you had embarrassingly low wages?[/i] It all cycles, and today's gloating peacocks may surely find themselves tomorrow's dodobirds.
Think about it, and understand how trashy you sound gloating about your nouveau "riches" while the owners (and other pilots for that matter) laugh about how little it takes to make the little people feel important.
Nice discussion ability....everyone must just be "jealous." :nuts:

Wal-Mart is a multi-billion dollar corporation as well....Uncle Warren's outfit could easily determine that the old way was the right way. There are all kinds of sneaky ways to work around a "contract," as the airlines have shown.

 

[bailey3083]

I have heard that Warren is impressed with what Johnny O has done over at Mesa and is thinking about offering him the job. LOL

 

[BeechScrub]

I guess now the stock is on sale, or at least fairly valued. Perhaps it's time to buy? Where did I put my extra $135K?

 

[Jack Mehoff]

no. Pilot raises are bankrupting the company.

don't forget our signing bonuses too! haha I guess we all better apply to jetblue now that berk is falling

 

[popgoesbubble]

Wal-Mart is a multi-billion dollar corporation as well....Uncle Warren's outfit could easily determine that the old way was the right way. There are all kinds of sneaky ways to work around a "contract," as the airlines have shown.

Yeah Like that's gonna Happen "Voice Full Of Semen" You obviously don't Know anything about the Pilot group here and IBT. So Just curious are you a pilot or just some management type with his hand in his pant that got screwed while at a Major?