Why Warren Buffet hasn’t spent the $334,000,000,000 sitting in Berkshire Hathaway’s reserves on new shares

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. It’s not without reason either - his Berkshire Hathaway company has returned around double that of the wider American market, on average, every year since 1965. “Often, nothing looks compelling; very infrequently we find ourselves knee-deep in opportunities,” Mr Buffett said in his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, alongside the company’s latest financial update. While our ownership in marketable equities moved downward last year from $354bn to $272bn, the value of our non-quoted controlled equities increased somewhat and remains far greater than the value of the marketable portfolio.” He further added: “Berkshire shareholders can rest assured that we will forever deploy a substantial majority of their money in equities, mostly American equities, although many of these will have international operations of significance.” Buffett offered two further interesting nuggets in money-related matters, and one on the matter of his eventual succession. Additionally, the Berkshire report showed an income of $11.6bn of interest earned, largely from holding Treasury bills - shorter term version of bonds - which was noted as a “predictable large gain in investment income as Treasury Bill yields improved and we substantially increased our holdings of these highly liquid short-term securities.” Buffett also said that Berkshire would continue to grow their holding in Japanese positions increase and be held “for many decades” even after he transitioned out of the leading role.