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A comment on Berkshire Hathaway posts a 40% jump in operating earnings, cash pile of $157B. Parent comment

Re:Berkshire Hathaway posts a 40% jump in operating earnings... by mightybyte on Monday November 06, 2023 @11:12AM (#38164479)
> if a corporation can't find any opportunities for use of capital..., it should be distributed to shareholders

A ways down the article says:

"The firm spent $1.1 billion to repurchase shares, bringing the nine-month total to approximately $7 billion."

So they are returning some of that to shareholders.

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Re:Berkshire Hathaway posts a 40% jump in operating earnings... by raesene9 on Monday November 06, 2023 @11:15AM (#38164525)
Indeed but only at the rate of ~10% of profits ($10.761b for the quarter)
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Re:Berkshire Hathaway posts a 40% jump in operating earnings... by mightybyte on Monday November 06, 2023 @11:34AM (#38164786)
That seems reasonable to me. But I guess therein lies the rub. I get impression that many BH shareholders feel Warren and Charlie will be better at deploying that capital than they will.
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Re:Berkshire Hathaway posts a 40% jump in operating earnings... by raesene9 on Monday November 06, 2023 @11:49AM (#38165007)
oh I'm sure they're the best, they wouldn't have been so successful for as long if they weren't, but it does leave a slight concern (to me) if the absolute best people at running a company think there's no way to generate better returns than bonds at 5% it doesn't paint a great picture for likely growth in the near future...
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