Warren Buffett's firm reports $12B profit before its meeting
Hours before Warren Buffett was set to take the stage at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, the company on Saturday reported a nearly $12 billion profit in the first quarter a year after a major loss when the value of its stock investments plummeted because of the coronavirus pandemic. Berkshire Hathaway it earned $11.7 billion, or $7,638 per Class A share, during the first quarter as the paper value of its investment portfolio rebounded. A year earlier, Berkshire reported losing $49.7 billion, or $30,653 per share.
news.yahoo.comWhat Charlie Munger and Bill Gates overlook in the Robinhood retail stock trading boom
There has been a broad retail investing surge since the pandemic began: More than 10 million people in America opened a new brokerage account in 2020. Twenty-two percent of technology savvy Gen Z respondents opened a stock market account in the past 12 months, the highest percentage among any age group surveyed. Hispanic males made up the largest percentage of new stock investors at 19%. Data from Charles Schwab released Thursday also shows progress made by Black Americans, with 63% under the age of 40 now participating in the stock market, equal to white counterparts, though there remains a significant overall racial gap in stock market wealth. Its 2020 Ariel-Schwab Black Investor Survey found three times as many Black investors as white investors (15% vs. 5%) report having invested in the market for the first time in 2020.
cnbc.comGame on, again: GameStop surges and no one truly knows why
After weeks of going dormant, shares of GameStop have suddenly shot higher again, rising 18.6% Thursday after surging 75% in the last hour of trading Wednesday. After short-selling funds got badly burned by last month's sudden surge, many fewer GameStop shares are being sold short now. A day after testifying in a Congressional hearing about GameStop last week, he indicated he added another 50,000 shares after Feb. 3, doubling his GameStop stock position. On Wednesday, an hour or so before GameStop shares spiked, Cohen tweeted a photo of an ice cream cone from McDonald’s, along with an emoji of a frog. Even so, GameStop shares changed hands more times by midday Thursday than for Apple, a company with a market value nearly 180 times the size of GameStop.
Robinhood offers blistering retort to 'elitist' criticisms from Munger
Robinhood fired back at Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who earlier this week said the free trading app was having a "regrettable" impact on investors. "No one should believe Robinhood trades are free," Munger, 97, said. He added that the app has created "a culture which encourages as much gambling in stocks by people who have the mindset of racetrack bettors. A statement Thursday from Robinhood spokeswoman Jacqueline Ortiz-Ramsay took sharp exception to the remarks. To suggest that new investors have a 'mindset of racetrack bettors' is disappointing and elitist."
cnbc.comCarlyle’s Rubenstein says biggest economic risk is high unemployment, not stock market speculation
Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein told CNBC on Thursday he believes the largest economic risk is high unemployment, not some areas of the stock market where valuations have become overheated. "I think on the whole, the stock market is not our biggest problem," the private equity titan said in an interview on "Squawk Box." Rubenstein's comments Thursday came one day after Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger expressed serious concerns about activity he was seeing in the stock market, warning of a potential bubble. The unemployment rate has declined considerably since its pandemic peak of nearly 15% in April, the highest level since the Great Depression. In January, the economy added 49,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 6.3%.
cnbc.comBuffett's right-hand man says US stock market is overvalued
Investor Warren Buffetts right-hand man, Munger, says the U.S. stock market is overvalued, but he doesnt know when the bubble will burst. Munger said Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, that the recent frenzy over GameStops stock was driven by small investors gambling on the stock market. – Investor Warren Buffett's right-hand man says the U.S. stock market is overvalued, but he doesn't know when the bubble will burst. Munger said the recent frenzy over GameStop's stock was driven by small investors gambling on the stock market. If you have unrealistic expectations, you’re going to be miserable all your life,” Munger said.
Charlie Munger doesn't know what's worse: Tesla at $1 trillion or bitcoin at $50,000
Bitcoin continued to surge to more than $50,000 over the past week after Tesla announced it bought $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency . I don't know which is worse." Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett 's longtime business partner, on Wednesday dismissed the rocketing share price of Tesla and the recent bitcoin frenzy. "I don't think I know what the future of banking is, and I don't think I know how the payment system will evolve," he said. "So I don't think bitcoin is going to end up the medium of exchange for the world.
cnbc.comCharlie Munger says novice investors are getting lured into a bubble in 'dirty way' by Robinhood
The 97-year-old investor said retail traders are being enticed by brokerage apps touting free trading. "No one should believe Robinhood trades are free," Munger said. 'Dirty way of making money'The jaw-dropping GameStop mania became the poster child of the speculative bubble that Munger raised a red flag on. Munger even compared the current trading frenzy to the historic South Sea bubble of 1720. "You will remember when the first bubble came which was the South Sea bubble in England back in the 1700s.
cnbc.comHere's what to expect from Warren Buffett during Berkshire Hathaway's first virtual annual meeting
The meeting will be held Saturday but, unlike previous years, there won't be a crowd of shareholders swarming leaders Chairman Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger with questions. Instead, the meeting will be held virtually, the questions answered will have been previously submitted and Munger will not be there. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Munger said Berkshire is being conservative during this pandemic. But Womack thinks some of that cash can be reinvested in some of Berkshire's existing holdings, given how much they have fallen. To be sure, UBS analyst Brian Meredith thinks Berkshire's coronavirus risk is "manageable."
cnbc.comCharlie Munger will not take questions at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting this year
Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, will not be taking questions at the company's annual shareholder's meeting alongside Warren Buffett as the coronavirus pandemic forces changes to the widely anticipated event. Instead, it will be Greg Abel, Berkshire's vice chairman of non-insurance operations, taking previously submitted questions with Buffett. At last year's meeting, Abel answered some questions from shareholders in a rare occurrence. For decades, Buffett and Munger fielded questions from shareholders at the company's annual meeting without sharing the stage. Those questions ranged from their thoughts on political issues to Berkshire investments along with the future of the company's leadership.
cnbc.com'Frozen' companies are not calling Berkshire Hathaway for rescue investments, Charlie Munger says
And the phone is not ringing off the hook," said Munger, Berkshire Hathaway's vice chairman and Buffett's longtime business partner. Airline stocks have been among the hardest hit during the coronavirus outbreak. Usually, major declines give big investors such as Buffett and Berkshire an opportunity to buy into companies at a discount. "We're like the captain of a ship when the worst typhoon that's ever happened comes," Munger told the paper. The coronavirus outbreak has clouded the global economic outlook.
cnbc.comWhy Charlie Munger's 'bulls--t earnings' metric is used by so many tech companies
In Uber's earnings report last week, the acronym EBITDA showed up 42 times. The term showed up 33 times in Lyft's report this week, while Yelp included it 39 times in its earnings release after the close of trading on Thursday. Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger describes it another way: "bulls--- earnings." To get to EBITDA, companies take bottom-line net income (or loss), based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and then add back in items they had counted as costs but that don't affect their cash position. Some internet companies, in particular, take the further step of reporting adjusted EBITDA, providing a glimpse of their earnings if they didn't have to account for stock-based compensation.
cnbc.comWatch: Charlie Munger speaks at the Daily Journal annual meeting
Charlie Munger, vice chairman at Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett's longtime business partner, will address shareholders of the Los Angeles-based Daily Journal. Munger, who turned 96 last month, will also answers questions from Daily Journal shareholders. Investors of all stripes look forward to Munger's annual address at the publisher's headquarters for the investment wisdom he shares. Munger is considered, alongside Buffett, to be one of the best investors and business thinkers in history. Before joining Buffett at Berkshire, Munger's investment partnership had average annual returns of 20% between 1962 and 1975.
cnbc.comHere's what Charlie Munger says all young people should know about choosing a career
In the 2018 edition of "Poor Charlie's Almanack," a book of insight from Charlie Munger throughout his career, editor Peter Kaufman asked Munger what young people should look for in a career. "I've got some advice for the young," Munger added. Charles Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., left, and Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., attend a BYD Co. press event in China, on Monday, Sept. 27, 2010. : Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger." Don't miss: Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger share their best advice for young people
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